What The Digital World Is For
by Higuchimon
Summary: The Digital World is made up of data from Earth. Humans have a lot of data about...
1. Beauty

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Digimon Adventure 02  
><strong>Title:<strong> What The Digital World Is For: Chapter 1: Beauty  
><strong>Romance:<strong> Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> chapter: 6,184||story: 6,184  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Romance, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
><strong>Challenge:<strong> Written for the 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge, day #6; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #2, a multichapter with no more than five chapters  
><strong>Summary:<strong> [1/5 chapters, Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge; Diversity Writing Challenge] The Digital World is made up of data from Earth. Humans have a lot of data about...

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><p>The click-clack of keys being struck echoed faintly around the room. Wormmon stared up at Ken hopefully, longing for his partn - his master, he had to remember that, even though he didn't want to - waiting for Ken to remember that it was nearly midnight and even the mighty Digimon Kaiser needed to eat and sleep. He didn't always remember to eat, and frequently these days he fell asleep in his throne before he got up to go to his bedroom.<p>

As much as Wormmon liked seeing Ken here all the time, he didn't like that Ken had become such a workaholic since he'd moved here on a permanent basis. At least when he'd lived in the human world, he'd eaten and slept more or less regularly. But here…here…

"What is this?" Ken seldom spoke out loud when he was working, unless he were so into his project that he didn't think about _not_ speaking out loud. Wormmon tilted his head back and tried to get a look at what was going on through the viewscreens. Were the Chosen Children up to something? They'd been flittering about the world for days now, picking up new Digimentals. Wormmon wondered just how many of those there were. Surely they'd run out of them sooner or later.

"Ken?" He shifted closer, ready to wriggle away at a moment's notice if Ken lost his temper. He'd seen it happen enough times to know the signs. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." As he expected, Ken's response was brusque and cold. Wormmon sighed, bending his head. He'd give anything if he could evolve and help Ken do…something. Anything. He wasn't all that particular about what.

He kept watching the Kaiser, though. Something was up, whether Ken wanted to admit it or not, and he caught wind of several other words, muttered more under Ken's breath now, likely just to avoid Wormmon asking more questions.

Still, he was a little surprised when Ken shot to his feet and snapped out an order. "I want an Airdramon ready to fly in five minutes." He stalked toward the nearest exit from the fortress, leaving Wormmon to scramble along in his wake.

Ken's order hadn't been given to Wormmon himself, but rather transferred down to those slaves who had charge over the Airdramon and any other Digimon that Ken chose to use for transportation. By the time the two of them reached the exit, one of his regular AirDramon lay waiting. Ken didn't stop for a moment, but hopped on board and gave Wormmon a look that told him to hurry his pace.

Afire with curiosity, Wormmon wriggled faster, and managed to get on just before Ken's patience ran out and he ordered the AirDramon into the skies. He clung tightly to Ken's leg, peering over the side and wising that he could fly like this as well.

"I've discovered a new territory." Ken spoke at last and Wormmon paid attention. "It's giving off strange readings, so I want to check into it myself before I have a tower put up there."

Oh. Well, that explained things, at least to some extent. He tilted his head to the side. "What kind of strange readings?" He doubted he'd understand what Ken had to say but he asked anyway.

"I don't know." Those were words that he seldom heard Ken say and it was just as well that Wormmon could cling to almost anything, otherwise he might well have fallen off in sheer shock. "But I've also ordered a few of the local Digimon to be in the area in case I need them."

Wormmon nodded, now more worried than ever. Whatever was going on there could be dangerous. He didn't dare suggest that Ken not go. Ken's goal was to conquer all of the Digital World, and that included this area, whatever it might be. He couldn't help but feel sorry for whoever lived there. They were not going to enjoy this visitor.

* * *

><p>Ken leaped off AirDramon's back and waved for it to return to the skies. He wouldn't need it right now, not until he'd finished exploring this area. That could take hours. Perhaps even longer, if it were larger than he thought. His scanners hadn't been able to pick up much beyond the fact the place existed and that it held some kind of an energy or effect he had never encountered before.<p>

Clearly long distance scans weren't going to accomplish anything, so he determined to take matters into his own hands. So far as he knew, the Chosen hadn't even arrived in the Digital World today, which was fine by him. He didn't need them interfering in his work any more than they already did. If they did turn up, then he had several Digimon ready to take care of them while he continued his work.

He'd landed just outside the problem area, and gave it a good look now. _A mountain valley. At least that's what it looks like from out here._ That partially explained why he hadn't picked it up until now. Mountains always interfered in his scans, and he hadn't yet refined them to fix that. There was always something else that he needed to do. His great work wasn't going to create itself.

Wormmon stuck close to him as he moved forward at a predator's stalk. He paid little attention to the grub; if the pathetic creature could do anything useful, Ken knew he would've discovered it long ago. Since he hadn't, Wormmon couldn't. Simple as that. He settled for not stepping on the small Digimon when he didn't actually want to and that was it.

A few steps brought him to the valley's opening, and he braced himself to take a look inside. He expected anything and everything. Ravening hordes of Digimon, empty rockiness, perhaps just pretty scenery.

What he didn't expect was precisely what he got: something that made 'pretty scenery' seem a weak attempt to describe the vista that spread before him. The sky glimmered a brilliant blue, a shade that he'd never seen in either world. The Digital World's sun shone down a fraction warmer here than it did outside of the valley, and that itself confused him; weren't mountains supposed to be cooler?

A scant breath past his booted feet began a wave of rich green grass that raced up the sides of the mountains and down the valley, coating everything as far as the eye could see. Flowers the likes of which he'd never seen before - not that he'd ever wasted his time studying flowers - fluttered their blossoms in the warm scented breeze as it teased through the air.

He could hear the sound of water cascading over stone when he bent his ears to listening and took a few careful steps inside the valley proper, wanting to see what else could be seen in this strange place. He took his time; he had plenty of it, and the more thoroughly he explored, the more he knew he'd learn and the more he would know how to use this place to his best advantage.

Already ideas for what he could do stirred in the back of his thoughts. If he could lure the Chosen here and seal them up, they'd never bother him again. He'd have to search through it and make certain all of those televisions were disposed of first, though. He wasn't going to make any mistakes like _that_.

That also meant making certain to seal off any and all other exits from this place, either before he brought them here, or having methods to do so in place. Preferably before; they had an annoying habit of preventing plans that should've destroyed them. Especially Motomiya.

Ken refused to acknowledge how his teeth ground at the very thought of the goggle-wearing Chosen Child. He'd find a way to stop them all, and him most of all. If not here, then somewhere else. But it _would_ happen and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it, least of all Motomiya himself.

Which did mean he needed to find out all the secrets of this valley, so he could use them to his best advantage.

"Ken, I don't like this place." Wormmon murmured. He still hadn't moved more than a fraction away from Ken's side. "It smells funny."

Ken drew in a deep breath; Digimon had stronger senses than humans at times, and while he didn't trust Wormmon's brain one little bit, testing the air likely wasn't such a bad idea. He frowned a moment later.

"That is a strange odor." The flowers? It didn't smell like any flower shop he'd ever been by, nor any perfumes he'd scented either. He sniffed again, trying to figure out where it was coming from, and started down what he thought was a likely trail.

Wormmon whimpered a little, but followed him loyally. Ken hadn't expected anything else.

The farther that he walked, the stronger the scent grew. Ken reasoned that he was getting closer to the source, though he couldn't yet decide on what that was. The sound of the water grew louder as well, and finally he turned a corner to see a river winding through the valley, which widened out even more before him. A full exploration of this place would take days, if not weeks, and that pleased Ken far more than he thought it would initially.

_I could move the fortress in here._ The Chosen weren't very likely to find him any time soon whether he did or not, and this would make for a very pleasant resting area without a doubt.

Ken stopped in his tracks and shook his head as hard as he could. What was he thinking? He didn't need a rest area. If he needed anything, it was to find out where the most powerful Digimon in this area were and put Rings or Spirals on them as fast as possible. He wasn't here for the scenery, he was here to _work_!

"Ken?" Wormmon nudged his ankle and Ken glared down, not even sure of why he didn't kick the worm to the horizon. "Are you all right? You look upset."

"There really is something different about this place." Ken clenched his fists and looked around. "I don't like how it makes me think."

If he brought the Chosen here, would they be affected the same way? Would they find themselves thinking of relaxing and enjoying the scenery, instead of fighting him? That would make it worth all of this effort. He wouldn't even need to seal it up if they couldn't be bothered to leave in the first place.

The scent grew even stronger as he took another step or two and this time he thought he knew what it was. A small offshoot from the river poured twisted down one side of the valley, forming a cup of land and water, half-filled with a clear, wide pool, too deep for him to judge by eye alone and clear as daylight. A short distance from one side of the pool grew a bush that could only be the source of the lovely fragrance. Thousands of blossoms in uncountable shades covered this bush, and it was all he could do to keep himself focused the closer he got to it.

"What sort of plant is this?" Ken murmured far more to himself than to Wormmon. But he got an answer nevertheless.

"I've never seen one before, but I've heard talk about a…a place…" Wormmon shifted nervously back and forth, leaving a small sticky trail on Ken's pants as he moved his pods over them. Ken thought about kicking him away but couldn't muster the energy to do so. The idea of taking a small nap began to appeal to him more and more.

He forced himself to think more clearly. It wasn't easy at all, but he was the Digimon Kaiser, and he let no plant and no place in the Digital World tell him what to do. "What about it?"

"All I've heard are rumors, but they talk about a place where no one feels the urge to do anything but…" Wormmon hesitated and Ken didn't know if he resisted the urge to kick him out of some lingering breath of patience or because this place worked its vile effect on him. "Well, no one wants to do much of anything here. Even the Dark Masters avoided it."

"Who?" Ken brushed aside what Wormmon said even as he asked the question. It didn't matter who they were. What mattered was how to put a stop to this plant's effect, if it were what actually caused it.

_Samples. I need samples._ Trusting to his gloves to protect him, he snapped off a branch of the bush and examined it up close. The scent was so strong here that he all but staggered and had to fight to remember he didn't want to lay down and rest and perhaps wait…

But he did fight it off, biting his lip as hard as he could to keep himself focused. "We're going back." With this, he could learn more than he could wandering around, probably getting lost, and having to struggle to keep himself on track.

So far as he could tell, there weren't any Digimon in the valley itself either, which would make it much easier to take over. He stalked back the way he'd come, and glared at the first of his enslaved Digimon who caught his eye. This one was a Unimon, who bowed low as soon as Ken's gaze fell on him.

"Get some workers in there and put up as many spires as are necessary to get it under control. I want it part of my territory as soon as possible. By nightfall tomorrow at the latest."

Unimon bowed once again, then turned to start giving orders to the other Digimon with it. Ken paid no attention, too busy summoning his AirDramon back. He kept hold of the branch, not letting it get too close to any of the Digimon around him. Whatever effect it might have on them, it would likely interfere in their work, and even with Spirals and Rings they didn't do enough of that.

Wormmon clung to him as he jumped to the AirDramon and ordered it back to the fortress. He kept the branch at arm's length, but even so, the fragrance wound around him, teasing at his nostrils and urging him to think thoughts that weren't of conquest and bringing this entire world underneath his heel.

Instead, his thoughts wanted to go in the direction of the Chosen. At first he didn't object; they were his enemies, and he would have to deal with them sooner or later. Inch by inch, however, the fantasies that stirred through his mind weren't the usual ones where he defeated them all, cut off their access to the Digital World, and paraded around with their defeated leader on a leash to prove his mastery of the world.

Though they did involve Daisuke, just not how he usually preferred to imagine the brunet.

Ken would've thrown the branch down, if that wouldn't have ruined everything that he had in mind anyway. He glared at the branch as if the thoughts it raised were deliberate. Perhaps they were. He'd not write it off entirely.

And if they were, then this plant knew absolutely nothing about him. As if he'd ever see Motomiya as anything but the chief of those who needed to be severely crushed and broken to the point he never lifted his head again.

"Hurry it up," he ordered, fingers of his free hand clenching around his whip handle. He couldn't remember if he had anything in his base that would filter out the fragrance. He would come up with something if he had to.

No, not if. He _did_ need something like this. All of these thoughts and fantasies kept him too far from his goal and he couldn't allow that.

Not that the idea of teaching Daisuke his place in certain other ways didn't have a mild appeal to it, if only for how shocked and horrified the boy would be…

No. Never. He wouldn't _ever_ think like that!

He stamped one foot without realizing it, and a heartbeat later AirDramon began to wriggle erratically underneath him. Ken growled; this was not the time for disobedience! "Quiet down! Get moving!" They were within sight of the base already; he'd had it hide behind one of the mountains in order to keep the Chosen from finding it, should they be so annoying as to turn up while he was away.

AirDramon kept on wiggling, though, and Ken hissed, stamping his feet on purpose this time. "I said calm down! What is the matter?" Normally his be-Ringed and be-Spiralled slaves didn't do much besides what he told them to, so this annoyed him far more than usual.

"I think it's smelling that, Ken." Wormmon indicated the branch that he held. Ken looked down at it and held back the urge once more to just toss it to the side.

"Then the sooner I get it inside, the better." If whatever power or reaction this scent held could even work through his spirals and rings, then he needed to know what it was, and find out how to block it. One little discovery had given him a large mountain of work. He might even have to put aside the building of his perfect creation for a short while.

They weren't very far from the entrance to the fortress, and while AirDramon's flight wasn't nearly as steady as it had once been, it did manage to set Ken down safely. The Kaiser leaped from the creature's back at once and snapped orders to the handlers to see that it was checked over and that the Ring on it was still in working order. He supposed they would feed it as well; his slaves still needed to eat, and he always made sure to keep his rides as well fed as possible. No need for him to take a tumble because they were hungry.

As if the thought stirred up his own appetite, his stomach growled fiercely at him. Ken frowned; he didn't want to put off starting his research into this subject any more than he actually had to. But as much as he disliked taking the time away from work, he knew that he had to eat sooner or later.

"Wormmon, have some food brought." He'd take a few bites after he made some progress. That was all he would need.

He paid just enough attention to know that Wormmon headed into the direction of the kitchen, while his own steps turned toward his throne room/work room/place where he did virtually everything. He didn't see a purpose in dividing up his base into multiple rooms when he could get most of it done from one. It was more efficient if he didn't have to wander from place to place either.

_Strange, the scent doesn't seem to get any weaker with time away from the main plant._ He eyed the branch in his hand. By what little he did know of Earth plants, the fragrance should've died down a little. If it had, he couldn't tell, and the reaction of the AirDramon certainly indicated that it held a certain level of strength.

He made a note of that; it was something he would have to factor in when he started to filter it out for his slaves. He doubted they would appreciate all the work he went to for this. They didn't have minds enough to appreciate it even if they would've wanted to anyway.

Ken settled down into his throne and called up a table to set the branch on. He refused to touch the thing with his bare skin until he knew more about it. Just breathing in the fragrance was enough to send his thoughts skittering off into directions he didn't want them going into. He thought enough about Motomiya when he was planning to destroy him and his friends utterly. He didn't need or want to think about him in any other way.

It didn't take very long for Ken to get so absorbed into his work that he didn't pay the slightest bit of attention when Wormmon pulled in a tray full of food. Instead he continued to delve into the mysteries of the fragrance for the next several hours, pausing only to snatch a few bites when his vision began to blur and his stomach roared at him to the point he suspected he might pass out if he didn't eat something.

Ken couldn't tell, but the sky to the east had begun to lighten with dawn's first touch when he finally leaned back and reviewed what he'd learned overnight. It wasn't nearly as much as he wanted, but it was a beginning.

_It reacts to both human and Digimon in different ways and it depends on their level of physical maturity._ He hadn't yet pinpointed all the differences or the effects, but he knew one thing: the Chosen were at a stage where they would feel much as he had when they breathed in the aroma. Extremely relaxed and unwilling to do much of anything. He had the first clues of how to filter it out with his Rings and Spirals, and he decided he would work on that after he got a little rest. Recoding to do that would take a lot of his effort and focus and if he didn't get some rest, he wouldn't be able to pull it off properly.

There were times he hated being human and having human weaknesses, such as the irrepressible need for food and sleep. He wondered if there were anything he could do to himself in the Digital World that would eliminate that so he could work more efficiently, without losing so many hours having to take care of himself. Yet another project he'd have to look into when he had the time.

He leaned back in his throne and examined his results one more time. _The best I can do with it right now is make certain there aren't any ways out of that valley and then lure them in and seal it up._ Whatever other effects the fragrance and the location would have on them would keep them there quite likely forever. Then he could get down to finishing his conquest. Perhaps he'd let them out once he was done, if they were still there to be released. The mental image of their reaction to his victory sent a sweet wave of joy all through him.

Everything in its proper time, though. First, he needed to check on his workers to make certain they'd done as he'd said. They still had a little time until his deadline, but he preferred to check on them earlier. He liked to think they worked harder when they didn't know if he'd suddenly turn up or not.

He made it easier on himself by turning his monitors toward that valley. While he couldn't have figured out the mysteries of the place from a distance, checking on construction was simplicity itself.

Everything seemed to be moving along, even without the signal to filter the fragrance and its effects out. To be precise, he wouldn't exactly filter the scent itself out. That wasn't possible. What he would be doing would be suppressing his slaves' reactions to it at all. Some of his research indicated that if their Rings or Spiral were removed, there would be some kind of backlash or feedback effect, where all the 'stored up' scent, so to speak, would strike them harder than if they'd dealt with it naturally.

Oh, well. If they let themselves get defeated, then it was only what they deserved.

Ken considered getting to work on the filter anyway, and decided now perhaps wasn't the best time. He would need to plan a way to trick the Chosen into that valley as well, and he did much better work once he was rested. With great reluctance, he rose up from his seat and headed for the bedroom tucked into one side of the throne room.

The room itself wasn't much to look at; it contained only a bed, a closet where multiple copies of his uniform and boots rested, a screen he could use to check on his slaves whenever he chose, and a small table he used for a nightstand. He kept only a small glass of water there, for those times when he woke and needed a drink. For the most part, everything in the room existed only for a purpose. There wasn't anything there for the show of it, nothing at all that he indulged himself with.

With only one exception: the bed itself. A huge king-sized mattress, with blankets and sheets of the finest weave that he could put his hands on, and a thick pile of pillows, awaited his repose. In Ken's mind, he was the lord and master of the entire Digital World, and he deserved the very best when he wanted something.

In the back of his mind as he stripped down for sleep, he wondered what Daisuke would think of this bed of his, and what it might be like to…

He stomped down on the thought with all of his mental strength and decided he needed one more thing before he got around to sleeping: the coldest shower he could get himself.

_That damned plant again. Why him? Why Motomiya?_ He'd touched on some other effects the fragrance could have once the person who breathed in the aroma matured, but hadn't paid much attention to them. If he weren't as worn out as he was, he thought he might've researched into that, for the sake of curiosity if nothing else, and use as a weapon against his enemies. Motomiya did seem to like that one girl, the Chosen of Light. If he could put that to use, then…

No. It wasn't worth the effort. Besides, Motomiya would like it too much and Ken would gladly go out of his way to annoy the brunet, but wouldn't turn his head to give him the time of day, much less give him something that he wanted.

On the other hand, something that he would _loathe_, that would wake him up screaming for months, if not years, to come…Yes. That he could do. That he _would_ do.

Ken let the ice cold water rain down all over himself and began to put together a plan.

* * *

><p>"What is it, Koushirou-kun?" Miyako peeked over his shoulder to get a glimpse of the computer screen, trying to guess what he'd called them all there for.<p>

"Aren't we just destroying more Dark Towers today?" Daisuke wondered, giving a few sharp looks to the bag of food Miyako brought with her. She pushed it out of sight absently; most of that was for the Digimon, not for them!

"That's what we had in mind," Takeru agreed, settling into his seat on the other side of Koushirou. "Did something come up?"

"You might say that." Koushirou tapped his fingers on the keyboard in front of him. "I was checking to see what the Kaiser's been up to, and I picked up a strange signal. When I deciphered it, this is what I found."

All of them turned their attention to the screen, and not one jaw remained undropped as a message spilled across it.

_Hurt. Send help. Please. Ken._

"Whoa." Daisuke managed to pull himself together first. "You've got to be kidding me."

Miyako's eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "It's got to be a trap, that's what it's got to be. Where's it coming from?"

Koushirou's fingers flew over the keys once more. "I've tracked it down to a mountain valley here. I can't get a visual, probably because there's a Dark Tower there. But that's what it says and that's where it's coming from."

Iori frowned, large green eyes focused on the message. "Is it possible that he's sending this to his own slaves?"

"Maybe." Hikari acknowledged, just as concerned as the rest of them. "But would he sign it with his real name if he did?" Iori nodded his agreement; that wasn't very like their far too proud enemy.

Daisuke folded his arms over his chest. "If he really is hurt, then now might be a really good time to take him down. And if he's not, then we can make sure whatever he's planning doesn't work."

Takeru smiled for a quick moment. "That's not a bad idea." He would want to be a little more cautious himself, but he'd learned not to expect that from Daisuke. "There should be a television port somewhere near there, right? We can use that to escape if we have to."

"I'm picking up one just outside of it," Koushirou agreed. "You'd better all be careful, though. Even if he is hurt, he's still very dangerous. And it might not even be him: he's hardly the only person in the world named Ken. This could be someone like Michael."

"If it's another Chosen, then that's a really good reason to get there before the Kaiser does!" Miyako declared, digging now into her pocket for her D-3. Everyone ready?"

In mere moments they'd all downloaded themselves, save for Koushirou. The redhead got to work typing up his regular e-mail to the other older Chosen, letting them know what today's mission was. No one except him had been able to turn up for the trip today, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He was still working on finding a way to open up the gates with one of their older Digivices, but until they could, the ones who stood the best chance of fighting were the ones who were there now.

_I wonder if that is the Kaiser, or just someone with an unfortunately similar name._ He made a point to keep an eye on what was going on as best that he could. Whatever happened, they would all need to know about it.

* * *

><p>"There it is." Takeru shaded his eyes with his hand and looked across the stretch of land that lay between their arrival point and the mountain valley that was their goal. It was almost impossible to see anything of the valley from where they stood, but the breeze that blew from it spoke of peace and rest and long lazy days with nothing to do except spend time with friends.<p>

"Well, we're not going to find whoever it is by standing around here!" Daisuke started off at his usual brisk pace, V-mon only a breath or so behind him. The others exchanged amused looks before following him.

"Everyone keep an eye out," Takeru advised as they drew closer to the valley's opening. "If this is a trap, it could get sprung on us at any time."

"Yeah, yeah, we know." Daisuke waved one hand and kept on going. Takeru didn't say anything more; Daisuke took risks like most people took baths.

Stepping inside the valley was like stepping into the most wonderful dreamscape one could possibly imagine. Long stretches of pure green grass flowed out in every direction, dotted with flowers of every shade and shape imaginable, and some that had never been imagined.

Iori blinked at all, then looked down at his D-3. "Can anyone get any kind of signal? If it is a different Chosen Child, we should get one."

Miyako breathed in the rich scents deeply, her eyes going somewhat dreamy and distant. "Do we really have to bother with that? This place is so beautiful. I want to rest here a while."

"I know what you mean." Hikari nodded, looking all around as if she couldn't drink in enough of the scenery.

Takeru frowned, but not very hard. "We probably should look for whoever it is…" He fidgeted, not entirely sure of his own words. "I mean, if they're hurt, then…they'll need help…won't they?"

Daisuke kept going without even looking at them. "Right, right! Well, I don't see anyone around here. Hey, Miyako, think you and Holsmon can check it out from up there?"

When he didn't get a reply, the young leader twisted around to look at her, frowning all the way. "Hey! Miyako!"

Miyako bent over one of the flowers, breathing in the scent. "Hm? Did you say something?" She slowly raised her head, blinking at Daisuke, head tilted to the side, eyes distant and dreamy.

Daisuke ground his teeth for a heartbeat. "Yeah, I asked if you could take a look for whoever we're looking for from up there." He waved one hand to the skies.

"I suppose." She fidgeted a fraction herself, rubbing the back of her head before she reached for her D-3. "Ready, Hawkmon?"

"As always!" Hawkmon prepared himself as the light of evolution began to enfold him. "Hawkmon, armor evolve to Holsmon, the Wings of Love!"

Takeru watched as they took off, a few whispered thoughts murmuring in the very back of his head, where he always did his best never to look at them. Today those thoughts appeared a fraction louder. He still tried hard not to pay attention, though it wasn't easy. "Is splitting up such a good idea? If this is one of Ken's traps, then sticking together is our best bet."

The words had barely left his mouth before a herd of Tyrannomon stampeded into the valley behind them, and a flight of AirDramon whisked around from the mountains ahead of them. Two of them peeled off from their formation, targeting Miyako and Holsmon.

"So glad that you could join me here in this lovely little retreat." The Digimon Kaiser stood on an outcropping of rock a short distance away, arms folded over his chest and his usual smug smirk twisted over his lips. "I think you're going to like it here so much that you don't ever want to leave."

"You've got that wrong!" Daisuke had his D-3 out and Lighdramon appeared in front of him in record time. "Really wrong!"

Daisuke didn't get very far before a batch of Tuskmon tromped up to get in the way. Without hesitation, Lighdramon attacked, aiming for the Rings that kept them enslaved to the Kaiser. They all knew how this worked; they got rid of the Rings or Spirals and Ken generally escaped on one of his AirDramon. The variations were endless, but the general shape of their battles remained the same.

Takeru, Hikari, and Iori didn't waste any time getting their own partners evolved and into the fight. Ken had clearly brought a significant portion of his army with him, and the question on if this were a trap or not seemed fairly well solved: it was and they were going to have to fight all of these enslaved Digimon to win their way through it.

No matter how many of those Digimon whose control devices they shattered, more seemed to rise up almost out of nowhere to take their place. Takeru and the others were kept busy dodging out of the way whenever an attack came too close to them. In moments, Takeru couldn't have said where any of his friends were, other than in the same kind of trouble that he was. Energy blasts, feathers, fur, and fragments of dark tools flew everywhere, and he spent more time ducking and swerving than he did anything else short of watching Pegasmon.

_We've got to regroup._ He didn't think they were losing, but he knew that he needed to see what was going on so they could all figure a better way to work through this.

Rolling to what looked like a clear area, he came to his feet and looked around. Miyako caught his eye first; she and Holsmon still circled in the skies, dodging AirDramon. Even as he watched, they got the Ring off of the last of them, which shook its head and sloped off to follow the others out of sight.

Iori and Hikari were still fighting, Iori a short distance to his left and Hikari somewhat farther along to his right. Miyako swooped down to help Hikari out, and as soon as he had a fix on where Iori was, Takeru urged Pegasmon to lend Digmon a helping hoof.

He couldn't find Daisuke, but that didn't surprise him either. Ken didn't often set traps just for one of them, but when he did, it was Daisuke more than it wasn't. _Looks like he's in another bad mood._ Finding Daisuke wouldn't take all that long, Takeru decided. What would take a while would be figuring out exactly what Ken's plan really was.

Not to mention the sudden tingle of fear through his spine as those few Digimon who still had Rings or Spirals on all suddenly backed off and headed for the nearest way out of the valley, leaving the Chosen behind.

**To Be Continued**


	2. Danger

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Digimon Adventure 02  
><strong>Title:<strong> What The Digital World Is For: Chapter 2: Danger  
><strong>Romance:<strong> Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> chapter: 6,203||story: 12,387  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Romance, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
><strong>Challenge:<strong> Written for the 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge, day #6; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #2, a multichapter with no more than five chapters  
><strong>Summary:<strong> [2/5 chapters, Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge; Diversity Writing Challenge] The Digital World is made up of data from Earth. Humans have a lot of data about...

* * *

><p>Daisuke didn't pay much attention to pretty scenery, though something in the back of his mind whispered that it might not be such a bad idea to see if Hikari would want to come here one of these days. But first he wanted to find the Kaiser and pound his face in for a while. Ken seldom got to where he could do that, probably because of how badly it had happened the last time they'd gotten close to each other.<p>

Daisuke would always be proud of that day, no matter how often he'd woken up from nightmares about it. It wasn't every day of the week that one found out there really were people that you would lay down your life for.

He tucked the thought away for the moment, focusing more on finding the Kaiser once again. His enemy had vanished from the cliff he'd mocked them from. He kind of wished that one of V-mon's evolutions included the ability to fly - he'd wished that for a long time, really - since that would make it so much easier to find the Kaiser.

"Looking for something? Or someone?" The voice came from behind him, and Daisuke didn't have time enough to react before a powerful blow struck across his shoulders, sending him tumbling off of Lighdramon. His partner skidded to a halt, energy starting to build up for an attack, when Ken's voice cracked outward. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Yeah, well, you're not me, or didn't you notice?" Lighdramon growled, even as Daisuke started to get to his feet. It hadn't been a bad fall, but he still didn't like being this close to Ken while the other had the upper hand. And have it he did; he stood on a Tuskmon's shoulder, whip in hand, staring down at both of them as if they were the scum beneath his feet.

"I wouldn't do it because of this!" Ken's whip snapped out and Daisuke had only a single moment to realize what he had in mind. He ducked, throwing up one arm, and the whip failed to wrap around his neck, instead circling around his wrist. "You could cause all kinds of damage to your so-called partner if you're not careful." A smile lashed across Ken's lips as he began to pull Daisuke closer to him. "And I'm the only one who gets to cause damage to him."

"Nope, sorry, you don't get to do that either!" Daisuke grabbed hold of the whip and yanked as hard as he could. Ken planted his feet and refused to move, but Daisuke wasn't that interested in getting _him_ over _there_. What he wanted was something else altogether. "Now!"

Lighdramon leaped forward, energy crackling harder around his jaws. "Electric Bite!" He snapped down on the whip and Daisuke stumbled backwards. He'd known it was going to happen, but he still hadn't been entirely prepared for it.

Ken looked even less prepared, but showed it more by being slightly surprised than actually falling back. Daisuke wasn't surprised by that; the Kaiser would probably rather die than lose ground if he had a choice in the matter.

"Do you really think that you can just get away from me?" His lips twisted into a mocking sneer. "You never have been able to before. Why should that start now?"

Daisuke blinked once or twice and shook his head. "Are you kidding? I've always gotten away from you!"

"No, Daisuke." Ken leaped down from Tuskmon's shoulder and landed right in front of the Chosen Child. "I've always _let_ you leave. Every single time."

Daisuke knew he wasn't afraid of the Kaiser. He balled up his fists and glared at the boy who thought he could rule an entire world with nothing more than attitude and a whip. "Yeah, you're losing it. Both times you've had me, my friends came and I got out of there."

"Exactly." Ken's smile wasn't pleasant. Daisuke couldn't remember a time when it really was, not even before he'd known Ichijouji Ken and the Digimon Kaiser were the same person. "Your friends came. But they won't come this time."

"What makes you think that?" Daisuke tensed, ready to fight at a moment's notice. He didn't like the way this conversation was going, and thought it might be a lot better to get out of there and check on his friends before something did happen to them. That really had been a _lot_ of Digimon in the battle, and the more they had fighting against them, the better.

"Because I'm not going to let them." Ken's hand flew out and seized Daisuke's wrist in a grip that shot pain all the way up his arm. "I brought you all here for a reason and that reason is to _end_ them."

Daisuke yowled, pulling his arm back, or trying to. Ken didn't give him much room to work with. "What are you going on about now?" He really, really wanted to get back on Lighdramon's back and go see how that fight was going. Maybe he shouldn't have left in the first place. Oh, well, too late to change that now. He just needed to find his friends.

"You have no idea of where it is you are, do you?" Ken pulled Daisuke closer, staring down at him with an odd gleam just barely visible through his glasses.

"Yeah, we're in the Digital World." One of the prettier parts of it, but what did that have to do with anything? Daisuke kind of wished Ken would just tell him what was going on instead of everything else he was doing. He did have to admit the Kaiser had upgraded his creepy levels pretty well since the last time they'd been this close to one another.

"You're in a very special part of it. I've studied all of the plants in the environment here extensively. You, of course, have no idea about what's going on."

Daisuke really didn't like Ken's smile. It just rang wrong on levels he couldn't think about. Didn't _want_ to think about.

"I didn't know you were into plants, Ichijouji." Daisuke yanked on his arm again, but Ken only pulled him closer. He dug his heels in harder and managed to get a step away. It didn't do much good, but he did it anyway. Whatever Ken had in mind wasn't something he wanted to take part in. He sincerely doubted that it would be a trip to smell the roses anyway.

"I'm into anything that will help me defeat you and rule this world the way I am meant to," Ken said.

Daisuke rolled his eyes. He really shouldn't have expected anything else. Still, he managed to take another step backward. Ken moved with him, so it didn't accomplish much, but he did it nevertheless. "So what's so special about this place?"

"Come with me and I'll show you." Ken's eyes glittered even more, and Daisuke wondered if it were possible for him to look more deranged. Probably, and he didn't want to see it.

"Sorry, I'm not that interested," Daisuke said, reaching up to shove at Ken with his other hand. That was his intention; Ken anticipated the move and wrapped his free hand around this wrist as well. "Hey! Let go!"

"I don't think so. I've invited you to come see something with me, and it's rude to refuse an invitation." Ken didn't look up, but raised his voice. "And if your foolish Digimon thinks that he can attack me and get you back, he should back down right now. I'm not going to _hurt_ you. He's even welcome to come along."

Daisuke glanced for a moment toward Lighdramon, whose muscles bunched and tensed, ready to strike once again. He couldn't say he was actually interested in whatever it was Ken had in mind, but maybe...maybe this would buy time for the others to get here. Ken was right about that much; he'd escaped the other two times because his friends showed up. So he needed to stall until they could do it this time as well.

"How can I know you're going to keep your word?" This was the Kaiser, after all. Ken couldn't be trusted for anything, except that you couldn't trust him.

That smile spoke eloquently of that very fact. "You can't. You're just going to have to take me at my word."

Great. As if he didn't have enough problems. "Fine. Let's go, then. I've got homework tonight and it's a lot more interesting than you are." That wasn't true. Homework wasn't that interesting.

Ken didn't let him go, but started to tug him along farther into the valley. Daisuke rolled his eyes as Lighdramon fell into place next to him, his attention never leaving the Kaiser.

"What is this you want to show me, anyway?" He thought he could at least find that out before they arrived at their destination. Ken liked to brag. It might give him an idea on what he needed to do to get out of this. He knew the others would show up, but if he could wiggle out of this situation before they did, that would be so much better.

Ken shrugged briefly. "You wouldn't understand it if I tried to tell you anyway. The only way you could is if you saw it for yourself."

Daisuke really, really wanted to tell him how wrong he was. That he could understand almost anything if he just tried. He didn't know if that were true, but he wanted to say it anyway. But Ken paid no attention to anything that came out of his mouth, only tugging him onward.

"You don't have to keep hold of me like this," Daisuke protested, taking quicker steps in order to keep up with him. "Just tell me where we're going." He wouldn't rule out a chance of running out of there the second Ken wasn't actually holding onto him either. His parents always told him to keep his promises, and he did want to delay the Kaiser as long as he could, but he was very fluid on just how to delay him. Running around this place would be just as useful as following Ken tamely.

"I don't want to." Ken's answer was quick and to the point. Daisuke rolled his eyes and hurried along. No matter how much he tried, he knew how useless it could be to argue with Ken. The guy only seemed to know how to respond to anything with either threats or violence.

_He's going to find out he's not the biggest bully on the block one of these days._ Daisuke really looked forward to seeing that when it happened.

The farther they traveled into the valley, the more confused Daisuke became. This just didn't seem like the kind of place that Ken would want to spend any time around. There weren't any Digimon here. He did see a couple of Dark Towers, but as far as he could tell, no one guarded them. He itched to have Lighdramon zip over there and blow them up, but a stern look from Ken told him it would probably not be the best idea, not yet, anyway.

Besides, it was much more fun to do that kind of thing with everyone around. He noted where they stood; this could be counted as a scouting trip. He wouldn't have wanted to take it with the Kaiser, of all people, but it would work so they knew where to come later.

What made this even more unnerving, aside from being with Ken in the first place, was the way Ken kept _looking_ at him. They were little looks, cast over his shoulder every now and then, and slightly appraising in a way. Expectant. As if he were looking for something in Daisuke, and hadn't found it yet.

_Did he stick something on me and I didn't notice it?_ Daisuke was pretty sure that he hadn't. Lighdramon would've noticed if nothing else. But Ken still kept looking and it still kept creeping him out.

"Okay, that's it. Why do you keep looking at me?" Daisuke wanted to get this cleared up as soon as he could. Besides, he still didn't know where they were going or how long it would take to get there and he _really_ wanted to get _that_ cleared up too.

Ken paused. His grip hadn't loosened on Daisuke a bit, and Daisuke tried not to think of how strange it felt to have those gloved fingers closed around his wrist. Strange, and kind of...

He wanted to know what Ken had in mind, and the sooner the better. Because not knowing was clearly giving him the absolute _wrong_ impression.

"Have you felt it yet, Daisuke?"

Uh-oh.

"Felt what?" Other than a burning need to get away from Ken, he hadn't noticed anything all that different. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "I could kinda use a nap, I guess?" He doubted this was what Ken had in mind. Besides, what was all that unusual about wanting a nap? He'd put in a hard day of school and practice before he'd come to the Digital World anyway.

Ken's lips twitched upward. Daisuke wondered suddenly if a nap was exactly what Ken wanted him to want. It didn't make any sense but there was that look of satisfaction, and it didn't look _right_.

"We're almost there." Ken turned and started on again, still pulling Daisuke along. Daisuke managed to throw a glance toward Lighdramon, who looked every bit as confused as he was, and stumbled after, wondering if he'd ever figure out what was going on in Ichijouji Ken's warped mind.

* * *

><p>"Nowhere." The report was the same every time. No matter where they looked, there wasn't a single sign of Daisuke or the Digimon Kaiser, nor of V-mon or any of his evolutions.<p>

Takeru stared down at his D-3, hoping for any kind of a signal, and not getting anything. That wasn't _right_; there should've been something. There hadn't been time enough for the Kaiser to get out of there, had there? Though he seemed able to hide his own signal. Could he do that to Daisuke's? _Would_ he? He'd never bothered to do so before.

There was definitely something going on here that he didn't understand and it worried him. This part of the Digital World glowed in a way that he'd never seen any of it do before. He knew he hadn't visited all of it, but this just looked different.

"Patamon," he said, looking at his partner. "Is there anything you guys know about this place?"

Patamon looked all around, blue eyes large and curious as he took it all in. "I don't know. It looks really pretty?"

That was what caught the eye the most, and it was why Takeru didn't trust it. Very few places or people in the Digital World that looked harmless actually were. Which meant that this place probably had some kind of secret that would terrify them all if they found it out.

When they found it out. When. Because 'if' could imply that they'd never find Daisuke, and Takeru refused to let that thought cross his mind.

He flipped his D-Terminal open and tapped out a quick message to Koushirou. Maybe he could find out something that they couldn't. They could never be completely certain what Ken's Rings or Spirals or whatever new toy he might have would be able to do. The way he manipulated the data of the Digital World almost looked like magic at times.

_A digital wizard. I bet he'd like being called that._ Takeru held back a smile, more because it wasn't really the time than anything else.

He glanced over to see what the others were doing, and blinked. Hikari and Tailmon had curled up on a large, smooth rock together, and Hikari looked ready to doze off where she lay. Miyako and Hawkmon weren't that far off and as far as he could tell, they'd already fallen asleep.

Iori and Armadimon were the only other ones awake, and Takeru caught sight of his younger friend splashing his face with water from the stream trickling through the valley.

"Are they all right?" Takeru moved over to check on the girls, Iori joining him a few seconds later. "I don't get what's going on here."

"I feel a little sleepy myself," Iori admitted as he tried to wake Miyako up. She grumbled, turned over, and didn't so much as crack an eyelid. "But it's really not the right time for a nap, is it?"

Takeru couldn't have agreed more. He took a long breath, shaking his head, and then frowned as a strange scent brushed at his nostrils. "What's that smell?" It was...good, for lack of a better term. Delicious. Enticing. Restful.

"I don't know." Iori looked around, as curious as Takeru himself was. "Armadimon, do you?"

The armored Digimon's nostrils flared as he drank it in. "I've never smelled it before, but it's coming from that way." He jerked his head to one side, and Takeru frowned.

"Isn't that kind of where Daisuke went?" He'd lost sight of the goggle-wearing boy in the heat of battle, but he was pretty sure that was the way he'd started off.

Iori nodded slowly, eyes darkening with worry. "You don't think whatever's causing that scent has something to do with it, do you?"

"Maybe." He nudged at Hikari, who didn't even make the kind of noise that Miyako had. "I don't know if we should check it out or wait for them to wake up."

He put the question aside for that moment as his D-Terminal beeped at him. Koushirou's response didn't tell him what he wanted to know, though.

"Koushirou can't locate Daisuke's D-3 signal. So something, or someone, is blocking it." He would put his money on 'someone', and that was most likely Ken. It looked like the Kaiser wanted to torment Daisuke one more time. As if it hadn't been enough the last time.

_That so-called distress call was a fake. Just something to get us here. So why **here**?_ Ken always had a plan. Even if it was just "get them into a secluded area and unleash large amounts of Digimon on them". Luring Daisuke away wasn't that difficult; sparks flew between him and Ken whenever their paths crossed. The real question would always be _why_.

"I think...I think I know what this place is." Patamon hovered in the air, sudden worry flavoring his voice. "And if I'm right, then we need to wake the girls up now and find Daisuke as soon as we can!"

"Of course we do!" Iori stared at him as if that had never been a question. "Why wouldn't we?"

Patamon shook his head, flapping his way towards Takeru. "This is a place most Digimon only hear about in legends. It makes Digimon act really, really strange if we're here too long."

"What do you mean strange?" Iori asked, glancing at Armadimon. "You mean they act mean?"

Again the small Digimon shook his head. "No. I don't even know how to describe it. They just get _weird_ and no one knows why. But everyone stays out of this place. It's said that sometimes the evil Digimon would come here, but no one knows why."

Takeru glanced toward Tailmon. She'd worked for Vamdemon before. Maybe she'd know something that they didn't about it. No one really brought that up these days, but it was something he knew she'd never forgotten.

The hard part might well be waking her up enough to talk about it in the first place.

* * *

><p>Daisuke <em>had<em> to feel _something_ in ths place. He couldn't possibly be such a lump that the effects of the flower's aroma passed him by completely. Ken considered more than once simply knocking him out and taking him back to the fortress to test out some of the variations of the fragrance he'd had in mind to experiment with. It would make him useful, which was not to be sneezed at, and it would annoy him on every level Ken could imagine, which would provide the Kaiser with all manner of amusement.

But he wasn't ready to give up yet. He'd always favored computers and data over biology, so he wasn't completely certain of all the ways that the aroma could affect someone. He knew what he _wanted_ it to do to Daisuke, even though the full effects couldn't be felt by him for some years to come. Puberty had some sort of involvement in it. He just hadn't discovered the full details yet.

Nor did he wish to. He didn't _care_ about the full details, not yet. He cared about finding a way to completely and utterly humiliate Motomiya Daisuke and that was it. Only then would he truly feel as if he'd accomplished something. Conquering the rest of the Digital World would be a delicious follow-up; keeping Daisuke as a sign of his triumph would be the icing on that cake.

But without that humiliation, none of it would be quite as satisfying. He still hadn't forgiven or forgotten the events when his identity as the Kaiser had been revealed. Daisuke had dared to attack him. That would _never_ be forgiven.

And if he couldn't get him to suffer at the thought of killing his friends, then there were other ways to extract his revenge.

He'd set up a barrier to prevent the other Chosen from following them once they figured out what was going on. He anticipated they would figure a way to break through it, but until then, he had a free hand with Daisuke. Keeping Lighdramon around was useful only in the sense that it kept Daisuke off his guard. His prisoner – and that was what Daisuke was, whether he chose to admit it or not – would think that he had a way out at any point. Ken knew better. Ken _always_ knew better.

The barrier would also keep Daisuke in, if he managed to attempt to run away. Ken _quite_ looked forward to seeing how _that_ played out. Perhaps he'd even let Daisuke try it, just to see.

But that would come afterward. He kept pulling Daisuke along, even though there wasn't a real need to. Daisuke followed along, not quite tamely, but with less grumbling and annoying comments than he might otherwise have made, if Ken hadn't teased him already with what they were going to see.

Finally they arrived at their destination: the great and tall bush, covered with the infinite number of blossoms that exuded the fragrance that could either put one to sleep or arouse one's desires, depending on who or what one was.

Daisuke stared at the bush, scratching the back of his head, then looked at Ken. "You wanted me to see this?"

If Ken had been _anyone_ other than the Digimon Kaiser, he would've buried his face in one hand at the tone of Daisuke's voice. Never before had he seen someone being so completely baffled.

Perhaps if he explained a little.

"This is a very rare plant. Nothing like it exists anywhere else in the Digital World." Or so he'd heard from those few of his servants he'd questioned on the matter, digging further into what Wormmon managed to tell him about it. Everyone had agreed that no Digimon wanted to stay in the valley for very long, not comfortable with the urges it created in them.

"Yeah, this is the Digital World. There are a lot of things that exist here and nowhere else." Daisuke still didn't sound impressed. Ken ground his teeth; he'd always known that Daisuke wasn't mature in the _mind_ but he'd expected some _other_ kind of reaction to this. At least a yawn!

He managed to control himself. For now. "It has a rare effect on people or Digimon." The more he considered this, the more he decided that Daisuke's non-reaction wasn't going to be a problem. He wouldn't let it be a problem. Daisuke didn't need to react to the _scent_ for Ken to do what he wanted. It would help but it wasn't the only way to achieve his goals.

Part of him decided that he didn't want the aroma's help. It would be so much more delicious if Daisuke reacted all on his own.

"What are you talking about?" Daisuke fidgeted, leaning a little closer and drawing in a long breath from one of the blossoms. "Do you know what he's talking about, Lighdramon?"

The blue Digimon tilted his head, considering the question. "I heard rumors, a long time ago. No one really _knows_, but a lot of people have heard about...a place." He took a step closer, sniffing quite cautiously as well. "A place that can make Digimon do the strangest things."

"Not all that strange, where humans are concerned," Ken added, his lips curving upward. "Digimon simply aren't used to reacting in that kind of manner."

LighDramon gave him a look before turning his attention back to Daisuke. "We should get out of here. No one stays in this place long."

"If it bothers you that much," Ken purred, swirling one of his Rings on one finger, "I can fix that for you. My Rings and Spirals keep the effects of this place from bothering my servants. I couldn't have them distracted, could I?"

Daisuke stumbled back, going for LighDramon as if to defend him with his own body. "Look, I don't know what you've got in mind, but we're not playing your games anymore!"

"You've played my game since the moment you first entered the Digital World and decided to fight me," Ken snapped, eyes flashing in rage for a few brief seconds. How dare Daisuke try _not_ to play when he was the one who'd set himself up as the opposition in the first place? You couldn't just back out of a game like this! It was unheard of!

The other shook his head and started to reach for LighDramon's back. Ken snapped his whip out; it wasn't as long as it had been, thanks to the bite earlier, but it was long enough to do the job now. He knew that Daisuke couldn't get out of here, but Daisuke didn't know that, and he wanted to play this part of the entertainment out to the fullest.

"Do you really think I'm just going to let you run off? You still owe me a complete and utter humiliation, and I think it's time that I collected," Ken declared, taking a swift stalking step forward.

"Sorry, I'm going to have to put that one on the back burner for now," Daisuke said. He scrambled on top of Lighdramon, ducking the whip's lash as it flew far too close to his face. Ken made a note; he wanted to at least bruise the boy. It would give him something to remember. And it would be a good payback for the injury he'd had that day weeks earlier.

Ken was 'slow to forgive' in much the same way that glaciers meandered their way across the ground.

The Digimon leaped away from Ken, circling around and heading back the way they'd come. Ken strolled along quietly, a rich and amused smile wreathing his face. They would run into the barrier eventually, and that was when his real fun was going to begin.

* * *

><p>Takeru shook Hikari's shoulder, while Patamon nudged at Tailmon, both of them trying over and over to wake their friends up. Iori and Armadimon tried the same thing with Miyako, and there wasn't much luck for any of them.<p>

"What in the world is this? Extra strength poppy or something?" He'd seen a movie like that once, with a whole field of poppy flowers putting the heroine to sleep. But while some of the flowers were red, there weren't enough of those to cause something like this.

Of course, maybe Digital World poppies weren't red? Maybe he needed to get Koushirou on this as well.

He kind of missed the times when all they had to do to complete a successful Digital World mission was blow up a Dark Tower or two, shatter some Spirals and Rings, and then call it a day. He _hated_ it when Ken got creative.

"Hikari!" He shook her shoulder harder and still nothing happened. He jerked his head up a heartbeat later when a sudden shout came from where Iori still kept trying to wake up Miyako and saw the violet-haired girl glaring at Iori. "You're awake!"

"How could I not be?" Miyako snapped, brushing at her clothes. "He poured cold water all over me!"

Takeru glanced at Takeru, one eyebrow cocked upward, and the youngest of them shook his head. "My mother always has threatened to pour cold water on me if I didn't wake up."

Well, it worked, clearly. He spied one of the curved leaves Iori had used in place of a bucket and picked one for himself, going over to the stream. Hikari was going to hate him for this. Even worse, Tailmon would be furious, and as they all knew very well, she came equipped with _very_ sharp claws.

It was for the good of the Digital World, and to save Daisuke. Whatever scars he ended up with he would just have to deal with.

Hikari confined her anger at being dumped with ice-cold water to a startled shout and trying to wring her clothes out while her back was turned to him. Tailmon, on the other hand...

He'd never once imagined that she knew language of that sort, and could only guess that it came from spending her formative years with Vamdemon and all of his minions. He had no idea of how some of those words were even spelled, much less what they were supposed to mean.

Granted, he was trying to hear them while laying flat on his back with sharp claws having scraped all over his face. He wasn't entirely at his mental best for figuring out small details like that.

"You better have had a good reason for that," Tailmon finally said, glaring at him with the kind of glare that reminded him of the day she'd taken down every single one of their partners and not even twitched a whisker about it.

Takeru slowly sat up, rubbing his face. "Patamon says that we're in a place that Digimon don't like to come to because it makes them act weird. Do you know anything about it?"

Tailmon frowned, looking all around them as if with new eyes. "I haven't thought about this place in _years_. I wasn't even sure if it still existed after the Digital World was reformatted."

"Then you do know something?" Takeru hoped that whatever she knew was something they could use. Everything hung in the balance of her information right now.

The young Adult moved forward to one of the flowers and took a quick breath before she backed away, pawing at her nose. "This is it, all right. We need to get out of here. The sooner, the better."

"What _is_ it?" Takeru wanted answers, and more than that, he needed answers. This could offer some kind of clue as to what the Kaiser was up to with Daisuke.

Though the more that he heard, the more convinced he was that he didn't actually want to know. At least not in the kind of detail he might end up getting.

"Vamdemon used to come here," Tailmon said, staring up at him with fear in her eyes. "He met Piemon here on many occasions." She looked around, eyes narrowed. "It's changed a great deal, but they used to have a small shelter, a retreat of some kind, built into the mountains. I think it was over that way. They would stay there for hours at a time. On occasion, they would even spend the night."

Hikari, listening to all of this just as Takeru was, swallowed nervously. "What were they doing?" From the tone of her voice, she didn't want to know any more than Takeru did.

"I don't know." Tailmon shook her head, rubbing one of her paws with the other. "I was never allowed in there with them. But I could hear shouts and screams virtually all night long."

Takeru bit his lip, trying to work this out. An answer slipped around in the depths of his mind, but he made a point to ignore it. "You mean they tortured Digimon here?" That had to be it. What else would a couple of insane evil Digimon do all night long?

"No. They were the only ones who ever went in there," Tailmon told him, dashing that hope before it could fully form.

Takeru clenched one fist, staring at the mountains. "It doesn't really matter what they did there." At least, he hoped it didn't. He hoped that wasn't some kind of a preview for what the Kaiser might have in mind. "But Daisuke's out there somewhere, and I'm pretty sure that the Kaiser has him or is trying to get him." He really, really wanted Daisuke to still be running, to have V-mon with him, and to avoid every trick and trap the Kaiser tried to use. Daisuke was good at that kind of thing, running and avoiding traps. He'd done it plenty of times on the soccer field.

Yet he still couldn't shake the feeling this was a little more difficult than just getting around someone else's attempts to steal the ball.

"We need to leave, but we have to get Daisuke first," he decided. "So, let's see if we can find him. Spread out and try to pick up any hint of him. D-3, a footprint, I don't care."

Tailmon looked as if she'd rather do anything else but this, but nodded, jumping on top of Hikari's shoulder as she did. "The flowers are what make everyone act strange here. Some Digimon they make want to go to sleep. Others they do...whatever it is that Piemon and Vamdemon were doing."

Takeru had to wonder if she knew more than she was actually saying about that. It was a question he knew for a fact he didn't want _any_ answers to.

"So, the farther away our Digimon stay from them, the better?"

"That's right." Tailmon looked at Hikari, then hopped off her. "You'd better armor-evolve me. That might help a little more too."

Takeru glanced at Patamon, who nodded back at him. It would definitely give them an edge in looking if they could go by air as well. "All right!"

"What about me?" Armadimon wanted to know, staring warily at a clump of radiant blue-green flowers only a pace or two away from him. "I can't fly."

That was going to be a problem.

"Maybe you can dig underground and avoid them like that?" Iori suggested. His partner perked up at once.

"Good idea! Let's do it!"

Takeru nodded, taking out his D-Terminal at the same time. "Everyone keep in touch. You find any sign of Daisuke or the Kaiser, let everyone eles know right away. Try not to let the Kaiser see you, though. Who knows what's going through his head."

D-Terminals and D-3s were all determinedly waved in the air, and for a few moments, all that could be seen was the light of evolution as the Chosen Children prepared to search.

Takeru still didn't like any of this, no matter how much he learned about it. The Kaiser _had_ to know about this place's reputation. Why else would he have lured them here in the first place? Did he just want to put them to sleep? Or were there other evil plans lurking around in his brain?

_That's what's different about fighting him or fighting a Digimon._ Most of their Digimon enemies had had fairly simple goals in mind, once you got down to the meat of it: take over the Digital World, or the human world, or both. Their methods were equally simple: send whatever Digimon they had in order to stop the Chosen Children. Very seldom did any of them get targeted on a personal level.

And yet that was exactly what Ken did, and his target, when he chose to fixate on one, usually ended up being Daisuke. And that worried Takeru far, far more than he _ever_ wanted to admit to anyone. It had never entirely felt as if this targeting came about because Daisuke was their leader. That had to be some of it; that was basic strategy in any kind of conflict. But that wasn't _all_ of it.

_Once we beat him, I'll ask him what his problem with Daisuke is._ He didn't doubt that they would. He _couldn't_ doubt it; he wasn't set up like that. The only problem in his mind with the whole situation was that he didn't know how they would or how long it would take.

Unfortunately, with Ken kidnapping Daisuke any chance that he got, it would probably take a lot longer than any of them wanted it to.

**To Be Continued**


	3. Frustration

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Digimon Adventure 02  
><strong>Title:<strong> What The Digital World Is For: Chapter 3: Frustration  
><strong>Romance:<strong> Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> chapter: 6,171||story: 18,558  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Romance, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
><strong>Challenge:<strong> Written for the 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge, day #6; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #2, a multichapter with no more than five chapters  
><strong>Summary:<strong> [3/5 chapters, Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge; Diversity Writing Challenge] The Digital World is made up of data from Earth. Humans have a lot of data about...

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><p>Daisuke gripped onto Lighdramon with all of his strength, bent over as his partner galloped away, and started to count every sort of higher power he could remember who he might remotely want to consider praying or offering incense to just on the off chance that one or more of them might want to lend him a hand in getting out of this in one piece.<p>

He didn't know if any of them were listening, but he determined if he did get back to everyone else and got home safely, he'd spend his next ten allowances buying incense and it would be well worth the loss of junk food. He didn't know what was going on with Ken, but the guy couldn't have been any creepier if he'd actually been trying.

What scared Daisuke was the fact Ken probably _had_ been trying.

_This is just too weird!_ And that was even by Digital World standards. He'd heard stories. He'd seen things for himself. And this one still took all the cards.

He still hadn't put everything that Ken wanted or intended together in his head, but what he'd managed told him that he wanted nothing to do with it. This place having a 'weird effect' on Digimon? The way Lighdramon _really_ wanted out of here? The way Ken seemed to want him to stay? Yeah, all of that added up to 'time to leave and forget this particular corner of the Digital World existed' in his book.

"Are you all right?" Daisuke called down to Lighdramon as they kept on running. The faster they got back to the others, the better Daisuke would like everything.

"Yes! What about you?" Lighdramon tilted his head back to get a better look at Daisuke, who managed a quick grin.

"Kinda wishing that I'd brought some snacks with me, honestly." It wasn't entirely true. But he didn't want to admit how the thought of not getting out of here preyed on him.

Ken seldom did anything without some kind of plan, even if the plan made no actual sense. Which meant if Daisuke had run off, then Ken probably had at least considered it would happen. Daisuke could think of a lot of ways Ken would plan for that, most of which involved large amounts of Digimon doing things to him that he'd rather not think about.

It probably wasn't such a good idea to think about snacks, now that he considered it. He'd rather have one than be one, and if he thought about it too hard, he could come up with a lot more reasons why Ken would send something large and hungry after him.

The way Ken had looked at him made him wonder, just a tiny bit, if there wasn't something else going through the Kaiser's mind. It didn't really make a lot of sense to Daisuke, but he'd given up on Ken making sense a long time ago. It still bothered him, mostly because of the fact it _didn't_ make sense. Revenge Daisuke understood. He didn't like it, but he could kinda see where the guy was coming from.

This he didn't get. What was the whole reason for it? Was he missing something? Had he left before Ken got started on his monologue about whatever the reason for all of this was?

Well, if he had, then so be it. As much as he didn't understand it, it was probably better just to cut Ken's time in the sun today short and go home once they'd trashed the Dark Towers here.

He hadn't paid as much attention to his surroundings as he felt he should have, now that they were going back. So he wasn't certain how far they had to go. Being pulled along by Ken and riding on Lighdramon's back were two entirely different speeds anyway.

But Daisuke suspected that he would've noticed if there'd been some kind of huge invisible barrier in the way when they'd come out here the first time. And said huge invisible barrier was there now. It made itself known not by sparkling in the sun like any decent barrier would, but by being completely impenetrable when Lighdramon slammed into it.

"What the-" Daisuke found himself tumbling head over heels, back slamming into a boulder. As if today wasn't bad enough, he hit what was probably the one actual sharp protrusion on the boulder itself. He gave it a look, just in case it was a Gotsumon in disguise, and struggled to his feet. "What was that?"

"Something blocking the way," Lighdramon answered, scrambling back to his feet and nudging until he came up to the barrier once again. "It's a wall."

Daisuke came over there, brushing his fingers along where Lighdramon's nose rested. "I bet the Kaiser has something to do with this."

"How very astute of you."

Daisuke did not want to turn around. Turning around meant actually seeing Ken standing there and seeing his insufferably smug expression. Daisuke did not want to see that. He set his shoulders and stared at the wall that wasn't there.

"So, think you can get rid of it?" If a few Blue Thunders couldn't get through this thing, then maybe a couple Fire Rockets could. He'd be willing to try either one. Or both.

Lighdramon backed up a couple of steps. He ignored Ken just as much as Daisuke did. "I'll find out!"

Pale blue energy gathered along the spikes that decorated Lighdramon's back, forming into a thick sphere that blasted toward the barrier. Daisuke covered his face with his arm as several nearby boulders resting against the barrier shattered, spraying him with debris. Once everything stopped falling, he looked up in hopes that it had worked.

"Can't see anything different," he muttered, a hint of a grin on his lips. He could hear footsteps coming closer and quickly bent to grab a couple of shards of rock. "Let's see if it worked."

He threw one of them straight at where the barrier – hopefully – had been, and winced to see it bounce back off. "I guess not."

"Did you really think an attack that small would bother something that _I_ made?" The footsteps came to a halt far too close to Daisuke. He continued to ignore them. If he ignored them, they would go away.

Yes, it was toddler reasoning. Daisuke didn't care.

"Think we should try something else? Or maybe switch to FlaDramon?" He was ignoring. He ignored the shadow that fell over him for all he was worth.

"Nothing you can do will penetrate it. That barrier will go down only when I want it to."

No, no, no, _no_. Daisuke steeled himself and threw the second piece of boulder at the barrier. It bounced off and he had to duck to avoid getting hit by it. It didn't hit anything that was behind him, but that was more because the thing that wasn't there batted it away instead of standing still and letting himself be hit.

Lighdramon growled warningly and Daisuke shook his head. "There's nothing there." He hoped that got the message across. Lighdramon at least seemed to understand, as he turned his attention back to the problem in front of them.

"Maybe you could call one of the others? Let them know where we are?" His partner suggested.

"That's not a bad idea." Daisuke dug around for his D-Terminal; he should've thought of that earlier. Maybe it would've helped. That barrier couldn't go up all that high; Miyako or Hikari or Takeru could've flown over it to get him and V-mon out of there. Or Iori could dig under it. That would probably take it down faster than anything else.

A gloved hand wrenched his D-Terminal away from him and tossed it casually out of sight.

"It's rude to ignore people, Motomiya Daisuke. Especially when you're trying to ignore _me_," the Digimon Kaiser hissed, yanking Daisuke's head up to stare at him. "Didn't your mother ever teach you better manners than that?"

"She was too busy teaching me how not to let someone take over the world." Daisuke managed to snarl the words out, even with Ken's hands gripping at his jaw.

"Too bad. That's information you're not going to need to know for much longer. Now, we were doing something, weren't we?" Ken's grip tightened to the point Daisuke couldn't talk anymore. Lighdramon growled again, more energy gathering, this time at the tip of his armored head. Ken barely spared him a glance. "Do I need to remind you that this is your partner here? Attacking me means that you'll hurt him, and you don't want to do that. Now, you can stay here or come along as you choose, but Motomiya and I have a prior engagement to take care of."

Daisuke really did not like the way that Ken said that. It seemed to him that 'prior engagement' in this case meant 'I have so many horrible things to do to you that I can't even pick one to start with'.

Ken didn't have a huge army to back himself up with now. He didn't seem to need it, not once he had Daisuke's arms bent behind his back and a firm grip on the other's neck. Lighdramon followed along, still letting out annoyed growls, and Daisuke knew if there was so much as a moment's chance where his partner could get him away, he would take it.

Unfortunately, he didn't think Ken was going to give them that moment's chance. Not until he'd accomplished whatever it was that he wanted anyway. And only Ken knew what that might be.

* * *

><p>It could be strange at times how different evolutions shaped how a Digimon thought. Nefertimon knew she was Tailmon and Angewomon all at the same time. What differed was her shape and her abilities, nothing more.<p>

Yet being Nefertimon gave her a sort of distance, not just from the odd aroma that filled the air here, but from what she knew it could cause in Digimon.

So far as she could tell, the only effect it had on humans was to put them to sleep. It had done the same thing to her and Hawkmon as well, but whether that had anything to do with her level of evolution or something else was something she couldn't figure out.

She'd spent hours here before in the days of long ago, when she'd been Vamdemon's slave. The aroma hadn't bothered her much then. Now that she thought about it, she did vaguely recall having dozed off a time or two, but she'd always been under the impression that it had been because of how boring it was to stand guard while those two did whatever it was they were doing there. Could that be what the scent did to her, as opposed to them?

Sometimes she wished she were a more science-minded Digimon, or someone like Wizarmon, who could understand all of this. But she was a warrior, and she understood fighting.

Fighting that included the Digimon Kaiser and the fact he'd either taken a hostage or was busy trying to hunt down one. She scanned the area one more time, aware that Hikari did the same thing on her back. Their senses were different enough that they could check out the same region and come up with different information. It made them work better as a team like this.

"Nothing yet?" Hikari asked, hands buried in Nefertimon's mane. "Because I don't see anything."

Nefertimon shook her head carefully. "Let's try that way." She nodded toward a rise in the mountains. Their D-3s always seemed to have trouble with natural features like that, so it was possible that Daisuke could be over there somewhere and they'd never be able to notice him like that.

Hikari didn't object, so there Nefertimon soared. She enjoyed flying and wished that she could do it more often with Hikari, in times that weren't as tense and nervous as they were now. It didn't make a difference if she flew as Nefertimon or as Angewomon. The skies were her home either way.

Which was why she was very annoyed when a sloop of AirDramon coursed from around the mountainside and headed right for her. Each and every one of them bore one of the Kaiser's rings on them as well.

"Hold on tight, Hikari!" Nefertimon declared, bracing herself for battle. She was a warrior; she'd learned how from an early age and there was little she didn't know about how to fight. But that never once meant she _enjoyed_ hurting other Digimon, especially ones that had no control over their actions. There wasn't any other way to handle the Kaiser's slaves unfortunately. So, like all of them, she did what she had to do.

What worried her more than anything was, as always, Hikari's safety. She wanted to defeat her enemies just to make certain her partner remained safe, just as she wanted to find Daisuke not only for his own safety, but so they could all go back to Earth and not have to worry about the aroma in the air. Just because it hadn't done anything harmful to them yet didn't mean that it wouldn't.

She dodged this way and that, moving swiftly and gracefully through the air to keep out of the AirDramons' attack patterns, blasting when she could, striking with her hooves when she couldn't. She had no idea where the Kaiser found so many AirDramon, but he always seemed to have a fresh fleet of them when their paths crossed, no matter how many they released.

She would almost think he made them himself, if that could even be possible.

_If he could make a Digimon, then it would be something a lot worse than some AirDramon._ She didn't have time to think of how much worse.

"Look!"

Nefertimon followed Hikari's gesture and saw Miyako and Holsmon sweeping in from the side, Holsmon's Red Sun striking at an AirDramon's Evil Ring and shattering it.

"Just in time!" Nefertimon declared. With this backup, it didn't take much longer for them to clear through the enemy, and soon enough the AirDramon had all sloped off out of sight. If they had any sense at all, in Nefertimon's opinion, they would stay as far away from here as possible from now on.

The two Digimon landed on a wide rocky ledge, their partners leaping down to greet one another.

"Have you seen any signs of Daisuke?" Hikari asked, glancing around to make certain there weren't any other Digimon forming an ambush. Nefertimon kept her own eyes, ears, and nose alert. If anyone turned up, she would be ready for them.

Miyako shook her head, frowning. "We did find something strange though. I was about to send you guys a message about it when we saw those AirDramon."

"What is it?"

"It's like a giant wall, but it's invisible. Holsmon couldn't find the top of it, it's so big." Miyako shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. "We went up so high it started getting really cold, but it was still there. You think the Kaiser has something to do with this?"

Hikari let out a deep sigh. "I'd bet on it. We should get the others and go check on it."

What she didn't say, and what Nefertimon suspected, was that this was probably the first clue they had as to Daisuke's whereabouts.

* * *

><p>Ken hadn't really wanted to force Daisuke, not quite like this at any rate. He'd <em>expected<em> the defiant Chosen to either drift off into a doze at his feet or to start thinking out loud about that girl that he liked. Or perhaps someone else entirely; now _that_ would've been interesting. Ken could not be entirely certain of what the ultimate effects would be, and he thought Daisuke made an excellent guinea pig to find out.

What he had completely not expected was Daisuke not actually reacting to the digital flower's aroma in the slightest. If anything, he'd looked more confused. He'd scarcely _yawned_, much less said a single word about anything else, and that was more than enough to click every switch in Ken's head. His lust for revenge hadn't been slaked and this just made it even worse.

Daisuke wasn't a weakling by any means at all, but Ken made certain that he held the other boy in such a manner that the only way to actually get out of the grip would've involved breaking bones, especially for Daisuke. Most of the strength he had was built up thanks to sports, not martial arts training, unlike Ken himself, and that made a difference.

As he pushed the other along, he wondered to himself if it would be possible to create a Ring or a Spiral that would take control of humans as well as Digimon. It _might_ be; humans had much in common with Digimon, aside from evolution and the ability to shoot various forms of attacks out of hands, mouths, and various other body parts. Perhaps he'd dig into that one of these days.

Right now he didn't need something like that to drag Daisuke where he wanted him to go. He would've preferred it if Lighdramon hadn't come along, more because he didn't want the extra annoyance, but he could call up his own forces at a moment's notice, and the canine would be outnumbered. Just because no one could see them didn't mean they weren't there.

"Are you going to let me go any time soon?" Daisuke gasped, stumbling over a few scattered rocks.

"Only when we're where I want to go," Ken replied, smoothly gliding along. "And you can relax. We're almost there. Again."

Daisuke twisted his head up, and Ken permitted him to see they were going back the way they'd been before, leading to that spectacularly lovely bush. Ken hadn't yet figured out a name for it. He didn't know if the Digimon had one for it, nor did he care that much. He'd discovered it and that gave him the right to name it.

There was a new addition to the scenery when they arrived. He'd taken the time to arrange this before he'd gone after Daisuke earlier. A long, slender pole stood before the bush, and Ken thrust Daisuke up against it, keeping him pinned there with one hand.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were planning on burning me at the stake," Daisuke said, making a very poor attempt at a joke.

Ken stepped around Daisuke, yanking his arms behind him. Reworking the data of the Digital World to provide him with a pair of handcuffs was the work of under a minute and he clicked them firmly onto Daisuke's wrists.

"If I wanted to do that, I would have an audience here. Perhaps those friends of yours. You were willing to do anything at all to save them. I wonder what they'd do to save you." Ken rested his fingers for a moment on Daisuke's wrists, finding himself thoroughly enjoying the sight of Daisuke shackled and helpless.

Daisuke grated out something that Ken didn't pay that much attention to. He was a little too captivated by the feel of Daisuke's skin underneath his fingers. He tried not to breathe too heavily, not wanting to give away anything. He couldn't say what he didn't want to give away, only that he didn't want to do it.

_Could this place be affecting me?_ No, of course not. He'd never cared to check if he'd begun puberty or not himself. He had too much else to do to wonder about something that insignificant. And even if he had, even if it _was_, then the last person he would want to be affected _towards_ was Motomiya Daisuke. This was his enemy, the very leader of all of his enemies, someone that he'd gone out of his way more than once to humiliate in any way that he possibly could.

But Daisuke's skin was warm, a warmth he could feel even through his gloves, and the catch of his breath teased at Ken's ears, and there wasn't anyone else here but the two of them. He didn't count the Digimon; Lighdramon would do nothing so long as Daisuke remained prisoner, and Wormmon knew better than to bother him when he was working.

"Uh, Ken?" Daisuke shifted away a little, and Ken growled at that. "Not that you normally don't, but you are _really_ freaking me out here."

Ken bit down on his own lip, hard. Daisuke couldn't see him and that alone helped to get his rebellious thoughts under control. He was not going to lose himself, no matter how tempting such an idea was. He'd brought Daisuke here for reasons that had nothing at all to do with the effects of the aroma on _himself_, only for what they could do to _Daisuke_.

He stalked around to the front and stood there, staring at Daisuke, forcing himself to remember all that the boy had done to humiliate and anger him over the last few months. He'd dared to enter the Digital World at all, defying the Kaiser by unleashing Armor Evolution. Then when Ken captured him in order to find out more, he'd had the gall to actually escape. Certainly it had been with the help of his friends and their own new evolutions, but he'd done it.

Then there had been that soccer game on Earth, the first time their paths had crossed there, and not only had he slid into Ken, he'd _drawn blood_, and that alone was enough for Ken to never forgive him. The whole mess with the Bakemon disguised as the other Chosen and Deltamon's appetite had been _supposed_ to clear that up, to put Ken over on him in enough of a fashion that the Kaiser wouldn't feel the need to do anything else.

And yet it hadn't worked. The fires of rage still burned cleanly and furiously deep within the Kaiser, and he determined all over again that Daisuke would end up paying for all this and every other setback that he and the Chosen had delivered to Ken. This was just the beginning. Ken hadn't even _begun_ to think of everything he could do in order to completely shatter Daisuke. He'd made a list. It was a very long list. And he wanted to keep thinking up entries for it.

Daisuke shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, and Ken let himself smile. Oh, yes. He wanted Daisuke to be uncomfortable. To be afraid of him. To know how much of a mistake he'd made in daring to stand against Ken.

"So, if you're not going to burn me alive, what _are_ you going to do?" Daisuke asked, eyes flickering from Ken to the bush to Lighdramon and back again. "Because I think you're really getting Lighdramon angry and that's not a good idea." Ken didn't look up. He simply snapped his fingers, and two extremely large, even for their breed, DeviDramon swooped down from their hiding places, one of them pressing a clawed foot on LighDramon, pinning him down.

"I don't think I care. I simply don't want him to interfere in my work here."

Oh, he _liked_ the terrified look on Daisuke's face so very much. He wanted to make it happen again and again. Always before Daisuke's friends made certain he could escape. Now Ken wanted to make certain that he couldn't. He couldn't see any further need for Daisuke to depart his presence until and unless he wanted him to, and he had yet to decide if he wanted Daisuke to.

"What if I want him to interfere?" Daisuke snapped, starting to strain harder and harder at his restraints. That wouldn't do any good; Ken had forged these cuffs so they had no keys at all. Only he could unlock them, by manipulating their digital code, or if they were destroyed. That was yet again something he didn't intend to let happen.

"Your opinion on the subject is irrelevant," Ken said, finally moving away. He didn't go very far, only a few steps to where the bush blossomed. He could feel Daisuke's eyes on him, as well as Lighdramon's and Wormmon's, as he reached out to break off a small branch. It had some of the largest and most fragrant blossoms of them all on it. "I've learned a great deal about these flowers, as I said before. But it seems there are still gaps in my information. And you, Daisuke, are going to help me fill in those gaps."

"I am _really_ not interested!" Daisuke fought againt the bonds uselessly. "You would not believe how not interested I am!"

Ken smiled a slow, lazy smile as he began to move back toward Daisuke. "And you wouldn't believe how little I care."

Daisuke struggled even harder. If sheer willpower alone could've broken those cuffs, Ken suspected that Daisuke would've been able to do it. But he crafted his tools to be resistant to such things as 'willpower' from the one being held. Perhaps a Digimon's attack could destroy them, but aside from that, nothing other but Ken's own command would unlock them. And he wasn't in the mood to do that any time soon.

"Ken, you are approaching me with a bunch of flowers!" Daisuke tossed his head from side to side. Ken took measured steps, enjoying taking his time on this. He liked seeing Daisuke panic like this. "Did you stop and think about how ridiculous this is?"

"Not especially. I've told you what these flowers can do. Your own Digimon knows how dangerous they can be. Why, then, are you wondering why I want to see what they can do to you?"

Daisuke tried to kick at Ken, but given how he was chained up, he didn't have the kind of leverage he would've needed in order to make it good. Ken simply stepped to one side, now within reach, and extended the branch.

"Take a good whiff of these. It's for research." Ken's smile slashed over his features, and Daisuke's eyes widened as the blossoms brushed up against his nose. He did his best to hold his breath, but Ken wasn't having any of that. No, not when he was right in the middle of an experiment.

He was close enough to touch Daisuke, and that was exactly what he did, gloved fingers brushing down the side of the other's neck. "Are you scared of flowers, Daisuke? Or is it me that terrifies you so much?"

The Kaiser wasn't certain if it was the touch or the words that got Daisuke to draw in a sharp breath, but he did no matter what. His eyes widened as he took in the fragrance, and Ken bent forward in fascination. He could smell them as well, a sweet aroma that made all the most wonderful fragrances of Earth seem poor and weak in comparison. Roses and violets could not compare at all. He wondered in the back of his mind if that flower shop he'd passed on a regular basis would go out of business if he brought these back.

Perhaps it would, but his major focus now rested on Daisuke, and he was not getting any happier about this experiment.

Because nothing was happening. No matter how much he shoved those flowers into Daisuke's face, _nothing happened_.

And he wanted to know why.

* * *

><p>Eight faces in various expressions of confusion stared at what appeared to be nothing more than empty air. Takeru reached out and set one hand on the invisible wall.<p>

"I can't guess how high this is, but it goes up way too high for us to try to fly over it," Hikari told him.

He nodded, eyes curious and a little wary. This was something new and he didn't think that he liked. Ken was coming up with all manner of unusual tricks today, and it _really_ got on his bad side.

"What about trying to fly around it?" he wondered, looking from side to side. "How far out does it go?"

"We haven't checked yet," Hikari told him. "It probably at least goes to the mountain." She gestured to where the gray stone rose up high over their heads. "But that way?" Now she gestured the other way, where fields of flowers marched off into the distance. "I don't know."

Miyako drummed the fingers of one hand on the opposing arm. "This is a mountain valley, right? So it probably at least goes to the mountains on the other side. The Kaiser doesn't want us finding what he's doing with Daisuke." She shook her head, rubbing at the back of her neck and trying to stifle a yawn. Those flowers still emitted their fragrance, the aroma being difficult to resist still.

"She's probably right on that much. That still means we need to find a way to either break it or work through it," Takeru said. He would've given a great deal for Koushirou to be there at the moment. Well, at least he could try this. He hauled out his D-Terminal and got to work, typing as fast as he could get his fingers to move.

Iori moved closer to the barrier, peering ahead of him. He thought he had an idea or two but he wanted to get a better idea of what this barrier was like before he said anything. Something on the other side glittered in the sunlight and he frowned, peering closer.

"Guys?" He glanced over his shoulder, hoping that this time they would actually pay attention to him. "I think I saw something."

Takeru still kept on typing, but glanced up for a second. "What is it?"

"Look!" He pointed, and one by one the group came over to stare at what he was looking at. "Isn't that Daisuke's D-Terminal?"

Hikari bent as close as she could, staring. "I think you're right. It looks like it, anyway." Worry threaded through her voice, a worry echoed by all the others.

"Why would he leave it here?" Iori wondered. He had ideas about that too but he wasn't certain if he wanted to express them just yet.

Miyako's fingers pressed against the barrier for a few seconds before she balled up her fist and slammed it against the unyielding force. "He probably didn't. I bet that idiot Ken made him drop it."

"So we know for sure that Daisuke's at least been on the other side," Takeru said, adding that information to his e-mail. "So Ken hasn't taken him off to wherever it is he goes when he's not around bothering us." That was something he wanted to figure out as well. Where _did_ Ken go when not attacking them? For that matter, where did he sleep at night? He, of all people, would need a safe lair of some kind.

Maybe Daisuke would have some answers once they got him back. It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask.

Iori moved in a little closer, standing beside Miyako as she shook her fist. Slamming it repeatedly into the barrier didn't do anything, they all learned quickly. Miyako wasn't one to just give up, though.

"I think Digmon and I might be able to go under it," he said after a few more moments of intense thought. "We can at least see how far down it extends."

"Good idea!" Hikari praised him. "Be careful, though. The Kaiser's probably got troops of some kind waiting still."

"We'll keep an eye out," Iori promised with a small smile. He glanced at Armadimon. "Ready to go?"

"Always am!" The armadillo Digimon declared. Iori didn't waste another moment, but evolved his partner into Digmon. This was one of those times where only their abilities could help, and he was going to enjoy it very thoroughly.

* * *

><p>Daisuke tried. Let it not be said that he didn't. He didn't want to; he didn't actually care that whatever Ken was trying to do wasn't working at all. He could see the worry and rising fear in Lighdramon's eyes, and that unnerved him more than anything else. These flowers could hurt Digimon, or so he'd gathered, and no one seemed to know exactly what they'd do to humans.<p>

And yet Ken still kept shoving the branch in his face and muttering things that made Daisuke wonder if the scent was affecting _him_ much more than it was Daisuke himself.

So he breathed in. He breathed in the aroma and tried to feel different, just to see if it would help in getting out of these chains. And yet no matter how hard he tried, _nothing happened_.

"Look, Ken, I just am not feeling anything. Nothing. Really. So can you untie me and we can fight or whatever and then I can go home?" He didn't expect the Kaiser to just release him, not without an epic battle of some kind. He knew how these things worked. Ken needed something to soothe his ego, especially now.

"No!" Ken's growl could've cut through steel. He stared down at the flowers in his hand as if he could force them to have some effect on Daisuke by sheer will alone. "Something is going wrong somewhere." He turned back to Daisuke, staring at him with that same kind of intensity. "Perhaps I should take you back to the fortress."

Daisuke didn't pale very often. He could feel the blood rush away from him now. No one knew where Ken hung out on a regular basis but the fact they didn't know that meant if Ken _did_ take him there, then no one would know where to find him. They couldn't pull off any heroic rescue attempts when they had no idea of where to go to rescue him.

Of course he could always work on freeing himself, and he knew for a fact that he would, but who knew what Ken's place was like? Only Ken, and he certainly wasn't going to tell him. It could be an endless maze or have enslaved Digimon guards on every hallway. It could, in other words, be absolutely impossible to escape from.

It would be a challenge. And Daisuke loved challenges.

Still and all, he liked challenges he had at least some chance at winning, even if he didn't actually win it. Playing on Ken's personal playing field, with everything as stacked in Ken's favor as it would?

The more that he thought about it, the more the idea of actually escaping from Ken's hidden fortress actually appealed to him. He wanted to test his wits against the best that Ken could do, and to see the Kaiser's face when he actually managed to escape. He practically began to drool at the thought of it.

Ken smiled, tracing his finger alongside Daisuke's neck. Daisuke didn't ask what was on his mind. "I have a cell you could stay in while you're there. Just like these cuffs, it doesn't have a lock. It wouldn't need one. You wouldn't be able to get out. I could perform every test necessary to figure out why you aren't affected by this flower. I could perform every test I don't think is necessary but might be _amusing_ to try."

Daisuke swallowed, and Ken's finger followed the bobbing trail down his throat. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because I'm curious. Everything I've learned so far hasn't shown any reason why you should be different. You aren't _that_ stubborn."

Daisuke tossed his head and twisted his lips up into a grin, more because he didn't want to show how unnerving Ken's words were. "How do you know? I can be as stubborn as I want to be!"

"I know you can try." Ken rested his hand on the hollow of Daisuke's throat. From the way he kept staring at Daisuke, and the burning light in his eyes, Daisuke wondered if Ken even realized he'd done it. _Something_ was extremely wrong here, and it was all on Ken's side of things. And what made it even worse was that Ken clearly didn't realize it for himself.

"Look, Ken, I really think you need to go splash yourself with some water or something. Have you really looked at what you're doing?"

"I know what I'm doing," Ken said, leaning close enough so that his breath brushed across Daisuke's lips. Daisuke pulled his head back. It wasn't going to do much good, but he wasn't going to just sit there and let Ken do whatever it was that he was thinking about doing.

Daisuke had imagined his first kiss would be with Hikari. Or at least some girl that he liked, if he couldn't ever get Hikari to do it. He hadn't spent that much time thinking about it. And on those occasions when he had, he'd never thought about another guy.

And if he had, he was pretty sure that it wouldn't have been the Digimon Kaiser whose lips rested against his.

**To Be Continued**


	4. Escape

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Digimon Adventure 02  
><strong>Title:<strong> What The Digital World Is For: Chapter 4: Escape  
><strong>Romance:<strong> Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> chapter: 6,064||story: 24,622  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Romance, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
><strong>Challenge:<strong> Written for the 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge, day #6; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #2, a multichapter with no more than five chapters  
><strong>Summary:<strong> [4/5 chapters, Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge; Diversity Writing Challenge] The Digital World is made up of data from Earth. Humans have a lot of data about...

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><p>Iori clung onto Digmon's back as his partner spun deeper and deeper into the earth. They had to stay close to the barrier so he'd have some idea of how far it descended, but they couldn't go too fast either. He didn't want Digmon's drill to get damaged on the barrier, or if the ground suddenly turned to a harder kind of rock.<p>

He'd learned a little more about rocks since partnering with a Digimon who could drill through them. He wasn't a geology expert by any means, but simple logic dictated that some rocks were harder than others and it would not be a good idea to try to work through some of them.

He wondered at times if Digmon could drill through diamond. It wasn't as if there were diamonds casually scattered about so he could find out, but he wondered anyway.

Of course, in the Digital World, one might actually find carelessly dropped diamonds. He'd have to keep the thought in mind.

He wasn't certain of how far down they'd gone, only that there hadn't been any sign of the Kaiser's enslaved Digimon down here. He felt no need to complain about that. They needed to find Daisuke, not waste their time fighting other Digimon.

So focused was he on watching for Digimon that when the barrier suddenly vanished and Digmon tumbled forward into a small tunnel, Iori almost fell off of his partner's back.

"What's this?" He looked around nervously, D-3 and D-Terminal held close to himself. "Are you all right, Digmon?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the large Digimon said. He looked all around as well. "I think this is an old Drimogemon tunnel. They leave these things all over the place sometimes."

Iori nodded; he trusted his partner to know this kind of thing. "So where did the barrier go?"

"It just vanished." Digmon moved forward a few steps, feeling forward cautiously. "I think we might've found the way through!"

Iori joined him, taking careful steps until they passed where the barrier had been up above. "You might be right." He flipped open his D-Terminal and sent up a quick message telling the others what had happened. He stared off into the darkness, trying to work out some kind of a plan. He wasn't the best at this, but someone had to do it now. There could still be the Kaiser's slaves to deal with, either here or up top, and just because they'd seen Daisuke's D-Terminal didn't mean he was still in the area.

_Where else would he be? What's over there that the Kaiser didn't want us to see?_ Every day in this war there were more questions. Iori didn't mind questions themselves, but the way they had to struggle and risk their lives for the answers bothered him more than he wanted to admit at times.

Why did people like Ken have to exist anyway? Ones who spent their lives trying to hurt other people, not caring about anything but what they wanted? He'd never understood that. He didn't _want_ to understand it. It made not a speck of sense to him.

He would have to think about it another day. Today was for rescuing Daisuke and then going home for dinner.

* * *

><p>Daisuke's lips were warmer than Ken had thought they would be. He'd not given much thought to how warm they would be, but upon reflection, they should've been cold and resisting. Not that the other was yielding to him by any means at all. Daisuke refused to give in to the kiss and kept wiggling his head this way and that.<p>

Ken settled one hand behind Daisuke's head and held him in place. He wasn't done yet! He wasn't going to let go until he was.

All thought of research and humiliating Daisuke with whatever the results of the aroma's effect were vanished out of his mind, replaced only by the complete and utter desire to remain where he was, kissing Daisuke. A soft song of desire whispered through him, not at a point where he couldn't resist, but strong and sure and slowly rising with each passing moment.

He liked kissing Daisuke. The realization crept up on him, as inevitable as sunrise. He'd never kissed anyone before in his life, save for a few mild pecks from his mother when he was much younger, and those didn't count. This was something else altogether. Something stronger and richer and deeper than he'd ever thought of before.

Yes. Yes, he would take Daisuke to the fortress, where no one else could ever find him, and he would _keep_ Daisuke there. No one else needed to see him ever again anyway. There wouldn't be anyone who could take care of Daisuke's needs like he could anyway.

"_Kaiser_!" The voice rang out throughout the valley, and the Kaiser would've ignored it if Daisuke hadn't started to struggle even harder underneath his lips. "Kaiser, let him go!"

He lifted his head away from Daisuke, turning to see Lightdramon struggling against the Devidramon that still held him down. "Quiet, you." He wanted to get back to kissing Daisuke and perhaps get him back to the fortress. He didn't need to deal with an annoying pest of a Digimon trying to interfere with that.

"Listen to him!" Daisuke snapped, drawing in a quick, sharp breath of his own. "I am _really_ not interested in you like that!"

Ken turned back to Daisuke, a frown forming. "Excuse me?" He could not have heard that. He refused to have heard that. How dare Daisuke even say anything like that in the first place!

"You heard me!" Daisuke tried to head-butt him but Ken simply moved a step to the side to get out of the way. "Let me out of here, let Lighdramon out, and we'll call it even, okay?"

Something seemed utterly off in all of this. Ken shook his head, though it was more to try to clear it than anything else. He'd never felt anything like this before and he wasn't certain of how to deal with it. Surely taking Daisuke to the fortress and putting a Spiral on Lighdramon would work well enough? It would clear away all of the doubts and confusion that they all seemed afflicted with.

And yet...yet something in the back of his mind, or more precisely in the back of his neck, seemed to scream against it. He reached around to rub it absently, trying to get his thoughts in a proper order.

"No. No, I don't want to let you go." He was sure on that, no matter what. Both the pain in his neck and the vague fog in his mind agreed on that. Daisuke shouldn't be released. What the pain and the fog disagreed on was why. The pain said he was an enemy and should be punished. The fog said he was _Ken's_ and no one needed to see him ever again.

Ken shook his head harder, though nothing seemed to come of that. Perhaps if he kissed Daisuke again. His neck disagreed. His lips said yes.

For the moment, Ken decided to listen to his lips.

* * *

><p>One by one the Chosen made their way through the tunnel, keeping an eye out for any sort of guards set by the Kaiser. There didn't seem to be any sign of any, but that could never be certain, not when he had one of his grand master plans in effect.<p>

"Should we split up once we get on the other side?" Miyako wanted to know, peering ahead into the darkness. None of them had quite expected it to be this hard to see through. At least there weren't any holes. None that they'd found, at any rate. She took that as the blessing it was.

"Probably not. We're better as a group, and Ken probably has all kinds of Digimon watching out for him now." Takeru moved forward at a careful pace, D-3 in one hand, Patamon on his head, ready to armor evolve at a moment's notice. Hikari did the same thing, though not with carrying Tailmon on her head. It was best to be prepared. They'd all had too much experience with the Kaiser not to be.

"Can we start going up yet?" Miyako asked, trying to keep the quaver out of her voice. She'd never known how much she disliked enclosed tunnels like this until she ended up in them. She wanted air and light and lots of room to move around in. Especially that last part, and as soon as she could possibly get it.

Iori looked around; he couldn't see in the dark himself, but he had a rough sort of idea of where they were, based off what he'd seen above. "I think we're almost there. Ready, Digmon?"

Digmon raised his drills, ready for action. "Just give the word!"

It only took another few moments before Iori raised one hand and pointed to the soil above them. "There!"

Everyone backed up to avoid getting the remains of the digging falling on them. Miyako worked her way to the side, hoping for some glimpse of sunlight. She could feel Hawkmon leaning against her side and smiled a little. He disliked this as much as she did, she knew. They were built for the skies, not for the underground. But soon enough they'd be up where they belonged, and the Kaiser would pay for making them put up with this. It didn't matter if he'd done it on purpose or not. She needed someone to smack for this, and he was the best option she had.

From far above a sudden beam of sunlight broke through, or Digmon broke through and the light fell through the hole. Miyako didn't care about the particulars, only that she could see the sky if she tilted her head the right way and her heartbeat sped up at the glistening sight.

"Let's get out of here," she muttered to Hawkmon. She took enough steps back so that he had room to evolve and fly upwards. Digmon had at least made certain the tunnel was wide enough for that, since there wasn't any other way for the flying Digimon to get out except through – flying.

With their partners on their backs, Holsmon, Pegasmon, and Nefertimon all soared upwards and circled outwards once they were free of the tunnel, looking for those elusive signs of where their enemy might be. And found nothing at all.

"Well, we're pretty much where we were, just on the other side," Hikari said as she reached down to pick up Daisuke's D-Terminal. "Let's check for footprints this way."

On this side, it seemed that such marks were a little easier to find. A half-mark here, a faint hint of a scent that Nefertimon's nose caught and Pegasmon's confirmed, a thread of Daisuke's distinctive clothing caught on a bush there...

"Looks like he came from this way." Takeru stared down the trail. None of them could hear anything other than the sound of water, and that unnerved everyone.

Without another word, they headed down the trail, no one certain of what they might find, and everyone certain of what they _didn't_ want to find: clear and irrefutable evidence that the Kaiser had made off with their friend in some fashion that they couldn't follow.

The trail led alongside of the mountains, widening out to what appeared to be the center of the valley, with the stream running a short distance away, and several trees and bushes scattered here and there, all of them bearing blossoms similar to the ones they'd seen on the other side of the barrier. The ones here appeared to be larger and better formed than those, however, and the aroma filled the air even more intently. "Anyone have a handkerchief? That stuff's strong enough to knock someone out just by standing here," Takeru said, pressing his hand to his mouth. He hadn't felt the effect the way the others had, but he didn't like what he'd seen it do to them. They didn't need this kind of distraction while they were trying to pull off a rescue mission.

"Sorry," Hikari said as she shook her head. "Maybe we should start packing those with our D-3s?"

"Might not be a bad idea. Who knows if Ken wants to try using this stuff on a regular basis," Takeru opined. For now all they could do was forge their way through the fragrance and hope for the best.

* * *

><p>Daisuke wanted to get out of there so much that he didn't think the words had been invented yet to describe how much he wanted it. Ken just kept on kissing him! His hands hadn't gone anywhere that Daisuke didn't want them, except one holding his head in place. Other than that, it wasn't...well...he didn't want to call it <em>nice<em>, but as unwanted kisses went, he'd heard of worse ones.

He stomped one foot on the ground and tried to yank his head away again. There wasn't much else he could do, not with being chained here the way that he was, but he at least wanted to make it known that he was _not_ going along with this willingly by any means.

Ken didn't seem inclined to move any time soon, his lips covering Daisuke's, tongue tracing along Daisuke's lips now and then, clearly so engrossed in what he was doing that he paid almost no attention to anything else.

_What is wrong with him?_ This wasn't like anything Daisuke had ever seen of the Kaiser. And as strange as it was, if it came down to kissing him or fighting him, Daisuke thought maybe kissing him wouldn't be all that bad, so long as fighting him didn't happen as well. Though he would've preferred that the kissing not happen while he was chained up, because that put a spin on it that he did _not_ want at all.

Ken didn't seem to see it that way, though. He hadn't _talked_ a great deal about what he wanted to do, other than continue to kiss Daisuke, but Daisuke got the impression that he would kiss him and continue to fight the others, and that wasn't what Daisuke wanted at all.

He managed to wiggle his head around enough to see where Lighdramon still struggled against the DeviDramon. These two were pretty large and bulky even for their kind, more than enough to keep his partner squashed on the ground. Ken hadn't done more than make a few vague threats to the effect of putting a Spiral on Lighdramon, but then got distracted by kissing Daisuke again.

Frankly, Daisuke would kiss Ken every _day_ if it meant that his partner wasn't going to get one of those things on him.

Ken pulled his head back, staring down at Daisuke with that half-sleepy, half-intense gaze that he'd had ever since this kissing had started. "We're going back to the fortress," he said at last, and Daisuke's stomach twisted into knots.

"Why there?" He had to find some way to get them to stay here. The others were coming; they _had_ to be, and he intended to be here when they arrived. "What's wrong with here?"

"Too many chances your friends are going to find us." Ken's gaze sharpened briefly. Daisuke didn't like that at all. It looked as if some of Ken's intelligence hadn't been replaced by the burning desire to kiss Daisuke after all.

He told himself he wasn't disappointed by that. And he wasn't.

Mostly.

Ken started to reach around him, and their lips came closer together again, and perhaps there was some kind of a magnetic effect, because once again they were kissing, and Daisuke wondered if he could get used to this.

"Hey!" Miyako's voice echoed faintly off the surrounding mountains and Daisuke pulled himself away even harder, breathing in sharply.

Ken looked far more annoyed than he did startled, slowly turning to where the Chosen Children stood, every one of them looking at least twice as annoyed as Daisuke himself felt.

"Do you mind? You're interrupting something I find quite enjoyable."

Daisuke shook his head until he couldn't understand why it didn't fall off his neck. "What took you guys so long?" He wondered if his mom would be upset if he invited them all over to dinner. Or if he wanted an advance on his allowance so he could take them out to eat somewhere. Anywhere, anything, just to say 'thanks' for getting there and interrupting. And anywhere or anything so long as it wasn't in the Digital World with the Digimon Kaiser.

"We had to dig around a while," Takeru said, staring at the Kaiser. "What are _you_ doing?"

"If you can't guess, then I might just have to show you again."

Daisuke barely had time to hear and understand what Ken said before the Kaiser tilted his head up again and rested their lips against one another. Ken's tongue prodded at his lips again, trying to get into his mouth, and Daisuke sealed his lips as hard as he could, shaking his head more, feet scrambling on the slick grass and stones underneath him as he tried to get some kind of leverage, enough to fight back even more than he had.

"Yeah, I think we've seen enough," Miyako snapped. "Holsmon, get him!"

Daisuke couldn't be certain if that was anger or envy in her voice and now wasn't at all the time to ask. Instead he pulled harder at the cuffs, despite knowing they weren't going to break. "Could someone get me out of these?" Now that his friends were there, he didn't want to think about anything else except going home and using up all the toothpaste they had in the apartment.

"Don't even think about it!" Ken's fingers pressed suddenly against Daisuke's neck and he glared at the Digimon as they drew closer. "What makes any of you think I'm just going to let him go without a fight?"

"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" Lighdramon shouted, trying harder and harder to heave up his DeviDramon captors. "But let it be a fair fight!"

Ken's lips twisted. "Why would I want something like that?" He pulled his whip from his belt and cracked it sharply. From various hiding places in the valley there rose a multitude of Digimon, sporting Rings and Spirals.

Daisuke groaned, not certain if he was more bothered by the fact that they were there at all or the fact they'd been there while Ken was – his mind jerked away from the concept of 'making out'. While Ken had been...maybe he should figure this out another day.

Right. Getting out of there. And the sooner the better.

The battle was already joining, the Digimon of the Chosen fighting the Kaiser's Digimon. Lighdramon snapped and snarled at the DeviDramon holding him down, and Daisuke squirmed harder, adrenaline surging through his veins. If he could get out of here and if Lighdramon could switch back to V-mon, then he could evolve him to FlaDramon, and that would be a lot more firepower on their side.

He liked that thought. He liked it better because it involved him getting out of there.

Ken, however, appeared to have other plans, or at least was still bent on continuing the ones that he'd already made. He pressed one hand against Daisuke's shoulder, pinning him to the pole so he couldn't move. "Stay still," he ordered absently, starting to reach around for the cuffs once more.

Daisuke started to open his mouth, then closed it again, a sudden thought sparking in his mind. _He's going to take the cuffs off. I can get away then._ It was the best chance he had. Better than that, it was the only chance he had.

He kept himself tense. There wasn't anyway he wouldn't be otherwise, so he had to hope it would pass unnoticed. He could feel Ken so close to him, a long and lean presence that sent his head spinning more than he truly wanted to admit.

_I didn't want him to kiss me. I __**don't**__ want him to kiss me._ He had to keep those thoughts clearly in his mind. He didn't know what had gotten into Ken, but he knew how he felt about all of this. It wasn't going to change either. Ken was the enemy. So long as Ken was the enemy...

The cuffs fell away. Daisuke moved his arms apart just a little, a tingling in his shoulders from the lack of blood flow. Ken's hands rested there for a few seconds, and it took those few seconds for Daisuke to realize that Ken was actually supporting him, making certain that he didn't fall.

He almost didn't move. He almost stayed where he was, letting Ken do whatever it was he had in mind.

Then he saw Lighdramon straining still, and the rocks crushed underneath his partner's feet, and the DeviDramon and the Rings on them, and he knew that he couldn't.

Ken was stronger than he was by a great deal, as well as faster. Daisuke knew that very well. He'd experienced that strength and speed on more than one occasion. But he still took the chance, ducking down and pulling away from Ken, pelting away as fast as he could get his still shaky legs to move.

_He's going to catch me. He's going to catch me and take me away to his fortress._ Daisuke was the Child of Courage, but even he couldn't fight off the fear of never seeing his friends again. Not right away. He moved faster and faster, hearing Ken's footsteps speeding far too close to him. He could almost feel the hot breath on his neck, and were those Ken's hands brushing against his back?

He jumped forward. Anything to get just a few more breaths away from Ken. He wasn't certain if he really did feel those hands or not, but he thought he did, and that gave him the impetuous that he wanted.

Rock scraped against his cheek as he landed face first against them, realizing in that same moment that Ken's whip had just wrapped around his ankles, sending him crashing downward. He shuddered, breathing hard, and started to push himself back up. At any moment he expected to feel Ken pushing him down.

"That's _enough_!" Takeru crashed down in front of Daisuke, glaring at the Kaiser as he drew closer, and reached out to help his friend to his feet. "Ken, you're not thinking clearly!"

"I doubt I've ever thought more clearly at all. Get away from him." Ken still kept a grip on his whip, and thus a grip on Daisuke. Daisuke yanked as hard as he could, a tiny fraction of tension relaxing as the whip fell away from his ankle. He'd had more than enough of being chained up in ways he couldn't change.

"These flowers are affecting you! Is there any other reason you'd kiss Daisuke?" Miyako snapped. Daisuke flinched a trifle at that, hardly aware of it as he did it, but said nothing at all to the contrary. She hadn't meant it like that. Besides, it was true. Why would Ken want to kiss him if something wasn't making him do it?

Ken barely glanced at either Miyako or Takeru. All of his attention focused on Daisuke. "If you don't want your Digimon to have a shiny new decoration, then get up and get over here."

Daisuke shook his head even as he brushed himself off and rubbed the side of his face where the rocks scraped. "No, Ken." He wasn't going to give in like this. He refused to give in at all. "You're not going to put a Ring on Lighdramon, and I'm not going to go with you, either."

Ken's eyes narrowed and his whip slithered around his feet as his arm twitched a fraction. He drew in a breath and turned toward his DeviDramon.

Daisuke didn't give him time to say anything else. "Lighdramon! De-evolve!"

Of all the unplanned plans that Daisuke had ever planned in his entire life, this was probably the riskiest. And he didn't care. He was willing to bet everything on it working, and he knew he was doing just that.

The DeviDramon stared in shock as Lighdramon shrank down, becoming V-mon once again. One of them started to reach for him, but V-mon darted forward, away from their imprisoning grip, and slammed hard against Daisuke's leg.

"Are you all right?" V-mon and Daisuke asked each other in unison. Daisuke's lips quirked up.

"I'm about to be a lot better. We both are." He started to reach inside of his jacket for his D-Terminal and blinked when he realized it wasn't there. "Uh-oh."

Ken's laugh echoed off the rocks. "Did you forget something, Daisuke?" He didn't come any closer. Daisuke wasn't certain if that was because of Takeru standing between them or if he just was too arrogant to think he had to. "You know what you need to do. Now get over here."

"Not a chance." Daisuke backed away from the DeviDramon, V-mon staying near him. He couldn't remember how far it was to the barrier, but he knew that had to be where he'd dropped his D-Terminal. "Think you can catch me?"

"Easily." Ken bared his teeth in something that wasn't even close to a smile, even if it vaguely resembled one. "Perhaps the question should be do you think you can run away from me."

"Not a problem." Running from Ken was easy. Staying away was the hard part.

Another voice broke in before Daisuke could start running. "Or you could do whatever it was you were trying to do before." From up above where Nefertimon hovered, Hikari leaned over the side and casually dropped Daisuke's D-Terminal into his hands. "I found it once we got on this side of the barrier."

Daisuke's eyes widened and he grinned. "Thanks, Hikari-chan!" Did he hear teeth grinding somewhere? It kind of sounded like that. He didn't think about it very much, though. Instead, he flipped open the D-Terminal and turned toward V-mon. "Ready for this?"

"Always!"

The glimmering light of evolution surrounded V-mon and a heartbeat later, FlaDramon stood there, banging his fists together and ready to do battle. His first targets were the two DeviDramon who'd kept him pinned down while Ken tasted Daisuke's lips over and over again.

Just the thought of it made Daisuke rub his mouth and long for the toothpaste all over again. And he knew he would have to tell the others something. They'd seen it happen; he couldn't brush it off. They would have questions that he had only a few answers to, and most of them very unsatisfying and annoying.

Still, they'd said something about the flowers being responsible? That kind of worked with what Ken had been saying. Daisuke hoped someone could give him some real answers that would make actual sense and not give him a headache trying to piece it all together.

"How _dare_ you?" Ken growled, still with his whip in hand, preparing to raise it at a moment's notice. "What makes you think you can get away with this?"

"Because we are," Takeru said simply. "And you'll thank us once you're thinking like yourself again."

"At least as much like yourself as you ever do. I mean, your normal evil self, not..." Miyako blinked a few times, then shrugged. "Whatever, you don't go around kissing us and we don't kiss you and you know that as much as we do."

Ken ignored her, his attention focusing on Daisuke, as laser-sharp and painful as it always was. "Watch yourself, Motomiya Daisuke. You won't always have them to watch your back."

Daisuke refused to look at him, spending his attention on enjoying the sight of FlaDramon trouncing the DeviDramon and shattering their Rings. That didn't mean that he didn't hear him, but he tried not to react. This was all because of some stupid flowers. As soon as that was out of Ken's system, then everything would be back to normal. And the sooner, the better.

He didn't watch as Ken called an AirDramon and soared off majestically into the sky, his dignity as surely wrapped around him as his cloak was. He paid only minimal attention as the other Digimon finished their battles and the now freed enemies fled the valley as quickly as they could.

"Whoa, glad that's over with!" Miyako declared, rubbing her forehead. "Are we ready to go home? I could use a serious nap right about now."

"Sure," Hikari replied, though she was looking more at Daisuke than at Miyako just now. "Daisuke-kun?"

Daisuke turned toward her, blinking and smiling just a little. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Let's get on home."

She came a little closer, worry in her eyes. "Are you all right? The Kaiser, he didn't hurt you or anything, did he?"

"What?" Daisuke blinked, rubbing his scraped cheek a little. "No, not really. I mean, this is nothing." He did not want to think about someone else's lips on his own or the feeling of those fingers against his skin.

"That's not really what she meant." Takeru turned to look at him, as concerned as Hikari was. "We saw what was going on when we got here."

Daisuke drew in a sharp breath and lifted his head up high. "You guys said that was because of those flowers, right?" All of them nodded to some degree or other. "That's all that it was, then. Just him being stupid because of that."

"But what about you?" Iori asked, peering at him with curiosity glimmering in his green eyes. "Didn't they affect you?"

"Nope." Daisuke shrugged, as confused about that as he'd been since it started to sink in that Ken wanted something in particular. "That really messed with Ken's head, too. I don't know what he was trying to do, but it didn't do a thing to me."

More looks were exchanged, then Takeru shrugged. "Come on, we need to get moving and get out of here."

No one even wanted to argue the point. All they did was make sure everyone had everything that was theirs and then headed wearily for the nearest exit.

* * *

><p>Ken watched as the Chosen vanished one by one through the television set just outside of the valley. He should've destroyed that one when he'd had the chance as well. He hadn't envisioned his plan failing the way that it had, and he still couldn't figure out how it had.<p>

He touched his lips with the tips of his fingers. There was quite a lot he hadn't figured out about what happened this time either. Now that he had some distance, he realized that like it or not, the blond had been right. The aroma of the flowers _had_ affected him, and every instinct he owned had focused itself on Motomiya Daisuke.

_Why him? Why not one of the others?_ He would've expected his attention to fixate on one of the female Chosen, if any of them. That was what this whole pollen, aroma, whatever it was, was about, wasn't it? And yet he had only thought of his enemy, neatly trussed up so he couldn't escape, and with a tantalizing set of lips for him to sip from.

Foolishness. He determined to set another blockade up there, this time to make certain that neither he nor any of the Chosen could get in there. This was the kind of weakness that they would love to exploit, and he would have nothing of it.

He was the Digimon Kaiser. He did not give in to weak _human_ emotions or desires. He had no idea of how Motomiya Daisuke had managed to avoid such base desires, but he wouldn't let it distract him any longer. An interesting diversion this had been and nothing more. He would not _allow_ it to be anything more.

He turned off the monitors and rose to his feet. He needed to find more Digimon slaves to replace the ones lost in this loathsome venture. That was all he needed to worry himself about now, and forever.

Though he did decide one little message needed to be sent, just to make something perfectly clear.

* * *

><p>Everyone settled down in the computer room once they'd arrived back through the portal. Koushirou had a file open on his screen with all kinds of data on it.<p>

"I did some research while you were gone," he said, tapping it with the tip of one finger. "While there isn't as much information as I would like on that valley, I did discover a few things. First and foremost, it's probably a place we shouldn't go to without a _very_ good friend." A light shade of red touched his cheeks. "It has certain effects on humans once they reach a certain stage in life."

Miyako grumbled, trying not to glare at Daisuke as she did. "Yeah, I think we saw some of that."

Daisuke fidgeted. He didn't even try to look at anyone and really wanted to get up and go home more than he wanted anything else. Briefings were normally boring; this one bid fair to be a nightmare. "I think we can guess what happens. What I want to know is why didn't it happen to me?"

"Did you really want it to?" Takeru asked, a little more curiosity than Daisuke thought the question really deserved in his voice.

"No!" Daisuke shook his head as hard as he could. It had been bad enough with Ken being affected. If it had happened to him as well..._no_. Just _no_!

Koushirou cleared his throat, staring at the information instead of them. "Actually, now that you bring it up, I uncovered something about that as well." Now he had everyone's attention, including Daisuke's. "It seems that while _most_ people are affected to some degree or other, there are a very few Digimon and humans who aren't. They react to the aroma as if it were nothing more than that: a lovely fragrance. From what I can tell, Daisuke, you are one of those rare immune people."

Dead silence fell. It was broken only when Daisuke swallowed and managed to ask, "How rare?"

"In all of Japan, I would presume you could find perhaps one or two others. _Perhaps._" Koushirou leaned back in his chair. "As I said, it's best if no one goes there again. I suspect that once his head clears, the Kaiser will feel much the same."

Daisuke wasn't going to argue that point, no matter who brought it up. He wanted it to be like that. He wanted to be able to stand against Ken and not have to worry about anyone bringing this up again.

He got to his feet, picking up Chibimon. "I'm going on home. See you guys tomorrow." He didn't want to say it, but he wanted to spend some time by himself, to think this all through and try to figure out exactly what he was thinking of in the first place.

He could feel their eyes following him out the door and tried not to think about it. They were probably wondering all kinds of things about him. He didn't let it worry him. They couldn't possibly be calling him the kinds of names that he was calling himself.

Daisuke had almost reached his apartment building when his D-terminal buzzed to alert him of a new e-mail message. Wondering which of his friends it was and what they could want right now, he pulled it out, Chibimon peering over his shoulder in equal curiosity.

The moment he realized what it said and who it was from, Daisuke first paled, then flushed a trifle. He breathed in hard, trying to figure out if he should reply or not, and what he would say if he did.

The message read quite simply, _It never happened, Motomiya._ There was no signature. There wasn't any kind of indication of who sent it, but he knew anyway. No one else could have. No one else would have.

He drew in a breath. Really, there was only one thing to say, and he typed it quickly. _What never happened?_

There was no reply. Daisuke went inside.

**To Be Continued**


	5. Return

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Digimon Adventure 02  
><strong>Title:<strong> What The Digital World Is For: Chapter 5: Return  
><strong>Romance:<strong> Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> chapter: 6,137||story: 30,759  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Romance, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
><strong>Challenge:<strong> Written for the 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge, day #6; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #2, a multichapter with no more than five chapters  
><strong>Summary:<strong> [5/5 chapters, Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge; Diversity Writing Challenge] The Digital World is made up of data from Earth. Humans have a lot of data about...

* * *

><p>It had happened. No matter how much Ken tried to convince himself that it hadn't, to forget that it had ever happened at all, he was never entirely successful. And he <em>did<em> try. He focused all of his energies first and foremost on completing his conquest of the Digital World and the creation of his very special, very own Digimon.

That didn't get him any farther in forgetting what Daisuke's lips tasted like or what the cinnamon haired boy felt like so close to him than it did in anything else.

But he refused to talk about it. He could do that much. And as the days turned into weeks and weeks into months and months into years, he found a nice quiet corner of the very back of his mind to set the memories on and there he put them, letting dust cover them.

It might've happened, he told himself, but clearly Daisuke didn't want to remember it, because he never talked about it. He never acted in any way as if Ken had ever done anything like kiss him.

Sometimes he wondered if Daisuke had forgotten it even more thoroughly than he had. Moments passed where he wanted to bring it up, to ask if Daisuke could ever possibly forgive him. He tended to assume Daisuke had, as he'd forgiven him everything else.

The first time he stayed at the Motomiya apartment overnight, he woke in the middle of the night, and laid there for what seemed ages to his senses, staring at Daisuke as he slept.

In particular, his gaze lingered on Daisuke's lips. He could still feel them underneath his, and even more so now, when they were so close together. It was almost as intoxicating as being able to feel Daisuke's heartbeat in tandem with his own.

He bit his lip and turned away. He needed to behave himself. He needed to be a _good friend_. He'd stolen kisses once from Daisuke. If events hadn't fallen out as they had, he might've stolen much more.

Ken no longer deluded himself in any way that he could either forget what happened or that it had happened at all. Or what had happened. That sweet fragrance had affected him far more than it ever had Daisuke, and for reasons he still only could begin to fathom, he'd been _drawn_ to his then-enemy, as surely as he'd ever been drawn to anyone in his entire life.

He stared at the far side of the room, so very aware of every breath Daisuke took. He knew Chibimon and Leafmon were there, but while he loved Leafmon deeply, all of his senses focused far more on Daisuke.

_I am never, ever going to do that again._ He'd come so far already from being the Kaiser. He wouldn't backslide. He wouldn't do anything but move forward.

No matter how much it hurt. No matter how much a part of him ached to simply roll over, pin Daisuke underneath him, and go where he hadn't that day.

No. He. Would. _Not_.

But oh, how he wanted to.

* * *

><p>Perhaps matters could've stayed that way, with neither Ken nor Daisuke bringing up what had happened on that long-ago day. Ken wanted them to. For so far as he knew, Daisuke wanted the same thing. None of the other Chosen so much as breathed a word either, and Ken realized day by day how profoundly grateful he was for that.<p>

But not everything always goes as one plans it. Even years after the defeat of BelialVamdemon and Oikawa's sacrifice, there were visits that needed to be made to the Digital World. Not so much for repairs anymore, but to keep an eye on those Digimon who liked to cause trouble. There weren't so many of them as there once had been, but so far as Daisuke was concerned, it was better to nip the ones that were in the bud. Or at least to let them know that someone was watching them.

"So what's the issue this time?" Ken asked, eyes flicking from the laptop screen in front of them to the storm raging outside. This wasn't optimal weather to go to the Digital World, but he had little else to do with his time at the moment. He'd finished all of his college assignments and his workplace didn't need his help at the moment. So he was left at loose ends.

Daisuke, it seemed, had a use he could put those loose ends to.

"It's a Minotaurmon. At least that's what Jun's Elecmon told me." Daisuke made a face; even after all this time, he was clearly still not yet able to wrap his head around his sister having a partner and being one of the Chosen. Ken couldn't blame him. But Jun and Elecmon were a good pair, regardless, and if Elecmon said there was trouble, then there was trouble.

He glanced at Wormmon, resting on his table. "Then I supposed we'd better get there and make sure nothing's going on."

Daisuke nodded, pulling out his D-3. V-mon prodded at Wormmon, who lifted his head from his quasi-nap. "I'm ready!" He also yawned halfway through the sentence.

Ken could not help a smile at the sight of his partner. Wormmon, too, seemed pledged to the same silence as everyone else. And Ken was just as grateful for that as he was for all the others. Best to leave this in the past and let that place be forgotten.

Thunder crashed outside, bolts of lightning arcing across the sky in a blue-white haze. Daisuke glanced there, a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Let's go before this gets _really_ bad."

None of them had ever tried to go through the gate when a storm like this raged. There'd never been a pressing enough need. Ken wasn't sure if this one was now. But so far as he knew, their passage shouldn't be bothered by it.

It wasn't. All four of them ended up on the other side as they usually did. It was just where the other side was that jolted an alarm through Ken.

"Is this - " He broke off before he could finish the question. Alluding to the fact that they both knew this place would go against that unspoken, unacknowledged vow of silence.

But he recognized it, and from the sudden widening of Daisuke's eyes, so did he. In all of these passing years, and even with a reformatting of the Digital World, the place hadn't changed. If anything, it had grown more beautiful and more luxurious. The scent of sweet flowers filled the air, and Ken's hand flew up to cover his nostrils at once. The last thing he needed was to lose his head _again_. And in a far worse way this time.

"I didn't think I'd ever come here again," Daisuke murmured, staring around as if he hadn't ever seen it before.

Ken ignored that, whirling around to look at the transport television behind them. They needed to go back, and the sooner the better.

But the screen behind them now reflected only darkness. He paled even more, reaching to fiddle with the controls, his heart sinking more and more with every passing second. This could not be happening.

"Ken?" Wormmon wriggled up, setting a paw on his hand. "Ken, what is it?"

"This won't turn on." He swallowed. Only one thing he knew of would do that. "I think the power is out back home." That wasn't so bad normally. It had happened before, with power outages of other kinds. They normally either found another television or just waited for the one they'd traveled through to turn back on. But that wasn't an outcome that Ken wanted. Not today when they'd landed here.

Daisuke moved closer, staring down at it. "Where's the nearest one at?" He didn't sound any more eager to be here than Ken was, and Ken framed a mental prayer of thanksgiving for that.

"I'm not sure." He frowned harder, trying to remember. It had been so long ago and he'd fought so hard to forget everything to do with this place, not just how Daisuke had felt pressed against him.

Only being here again stirred up all of those far too pleasant memories, and not the ones that he really wanted. "We should get out of here."

Daisuke nodded, looking all around. "I... don't remember this place all that well. Which way is out?"

Ken settled back on his heels, pushing strands of sweat-soaked hair out of his face. "I don't remember either." Time for a small confession. Not a true acknowledgment, but just a tiny admittance. "I haven't wanted to remember being here in a long time."

He could see Wormmon staring at him, concern in those large, soft blue eyes, and he could only imagine the look Daisuke was giving him. He didn't want to see it in person, so he kept staring at the ground. The ground, covered in soft grasses, and flowers that gave off that unbelievable scent.

"I think it's different from how it used to be," V-mon supplied after a few tense moments. "It didn't look quite this way before."

Ken glanced around again and could only agree with a small, tight nod. While he recognized the general outlay of the valley and the mountains surrounding it, all the important details that would've helped to find their way out either weren't there or were entirely different somehow. There were no guarantees that whatever route they chose would lead them out, or that there were any transport televisions anywhere near.

In other words, their best shot at getting out of there was to stay right where they were until the one here came back on.

Whenever that was.

Daisuke fidgeted. "You know, when Koushirou-san told us that we should only come here with a _very good friend_, this really wasn't what I had in mind." He rubbed the back of his head, his cheeks tinged a faint red. Ken glanced up only long enough to notice that, then tucked his head right back down.

"Oh?" He kept his voice calm. He was going to get through this. They would both get through this, no matter what it took. Perhaps a distance of five or ten feet from Daisuke would suffice? They were too close right now. He could almost feel the other's body heat.

Or that was his own body heat, rising. He wasn't certain and now didn't seem like the right time to check.

Daisuke nodded, as if not noticing anything unusual at all. "Back when we first found this place." Ken wanted to not notice his body language. He could've sooner not noticed air. Daisuke was... was... not bothered by this place? Didn't even have a hair out of place?

_Again_? Ken wanted to scream the word out and kept it sealed behind his teeth. Why did the universe see fit to torture him so? Was it _fun_ to see him stress and strain like this?

"I try not to think about that." Ken wanted to be proud of how level his voice was. Not so much as a shred of a shake. He was being _so_ good.

Daisuke didn't say anything for what seemed to be the longest time. Ken normally liked to listen to him chatter, letting that voice flow over him like the waters of a stream. Today he preferred the opposite. Silence was good. Silence meant that nothing was happening, and he didn't want anything to happen.

"So do I, most of the time," Daisuke finally said, and Ken could've killed him for breaking the silence. And he kept on doing it. "It's weird, you know. I never thought my first kiss would be with you. I mean, the way you were." He laughed a little, rubbing the back of his head, and Ken cursed the shadows he could see so clearly for telling him this. "Well, I guess you know what I mean."

Ken forced his eyes away. _Good_. He was going to be _so good_ they'd probably grant him a halo or something while he was still alive. "Yes. I didn't expect that either." Polite conversation. This was going to work.

He swallowed a little. He wanted to say something about it, now that he considered the matter a little more. Something that he knew he should've said years ago, but with how everyone refused to talk about it, including himself, he hadn't. Maybe there really was some higher power at work here, putting him into a place where he could finally say it.

"Daisuke. About that. About what I did." He couldn't yet bring himself to lift his eyes and look at Daisuke when he said this. He hoped that Daisuke wouldn't want him to. "I'm sorry. Of everything I did, that was at least one of the worst." He ranked it somewhere around third, himself. First was being such an idiot in the first place. Second was what he did to Agumon.

But this held a strong third, and if it had gone much farther, it likely would've taken second place.

Daisuke didn't say anything. Ken decided that until further notice, he would take that as a good sign. At least here and now, in this place and with however much acknowledgment as they were going to give it, he hadn't lost his temper. Ken respected that.

Then, without warning, Daisuke's hand rested on his shoulder, so very warm and pulsing with life. Ken had to fight back every urge to moan from it. Was it the flowers again? That scent, so strong and rich in his nostrils, wanted to overwhelm everything in his head. He clenched his fists in the dirt beneath him and reminded himself that breathing in wasn't a good idea, not here. The less of the fragrance he had in his system, the better.

"Ken, I forgave you for that a long time ago. It wasn't really your fault. You know how these things mess with people. We told you that then, anyway. It's kinda like you... had too much to drink but you didn't know it."

Ken nodded. Good. It was good enough. But before he could stop himself, another question fell out of his mouth. "So, why were you the designated driver that day?" It wasn't the best metaphor but it got the job done.

Again Daisuke didn't say anything right away. When he did, what he said wasn't what Ken had quite expected. "Koushirou-san said that I'm immune to these things. It's pretty rare. So I could stand here all day and they wouldn't do anything to me."

Ken blinked once. Twice. Then again. "You're immune?" That had never occurred to him. All of his genius all those years ago and the simple fact of an _immunity_ had never crossed his mind. He'd been so furious, trying to find a way to get Daisuke to react, and had only made matters worse for himself, and it would've _never worked_.

"That's right." Daisuke moved over to a rock in front of Ken and settled down on it, apparently wanting to look Ken in the eyes.

"We're going to explore some," V-mon said, nudging Wormmon along. "We should be all right, shouldn't we?"

Daisuke nodded and Ken agreed. At their evolution level, the aroma of the flowers would at most put them to sleep. And if it did anything else, better that they had privacy, assuming they were both amenable to it.

Neither he nor Daisuke said anything at all until their partners were out of the way. Ken still turned over this newest revelation in his mind, that Daisuke was immune to the effects of these plants. He hadn't yet made up his mind on what to think about that. What _could_ he think? That he'd been so foolish as to presume such a thing could not exist? To not even consider it, even and especially when Daisuke had shown no signs of being affected?

For all of his genius back then, Ken realized slowly and thoroughly, he had still been an utter idiot.

Daisuke brushed his fingers against Ken's knee and Ken jerked back, not having expected it, still mostly caught up in his own thoughts. Daisuke stared at him.

"Ken? Are you all right?" Brown eyes widened suddenly. "Oh, man. _You're_ not immune, are you?"

Oh. That had not even occurred to Ken, and he felt it should have. That was what had caused everything to go so horribly wrong that time as well. He slowly shook his head. "We need to get out of here." He did not need to explain why. He didn't think he'd lose his head entirely; the scent only encouraged, it did not force, so far as he recalled that long ago research. But it encouraged so sweetly that no one ever tried to resist it, which meant he honestly did not know if there was a difference.

Daisuke didn't move, however. He just looked at Ken, biting his lower lip, a thoughtful sort of expression in his eyes that Ken could not read at all.

"This is going to sound really weird, but do we have to?"

Ken decided at once that he should run his own tests on Daisuke somehow to figure out if he really was immune. Because why else would he even ask such a question? It made no sense at all.

"Of course we do. We don't want anything to happen." Was he blushing? Ken was almost certain he could feel his cheeks flaming. "We need to get home." That Minotaurmon could be dealt with another day. They would have to pin him down more thoroughly than he was now, though, so something like this didn't happen again.

Daisuke still didn't move. If anything, he just stared at Ken more. Normally he was completely open, not leaving a single doubt as to what was going through his mind. But now Ken couldn't read him at all, and that made him more than a little worried.

"I guess." He didn't sound all that convinced about it himself. "But Ken, I was wondering..." Daisuke wasn't fidgeting, but he did look suddenly so bothered by something. "I was wondering if you'd want to kiss me again. Different, though. I mean, if you wanted to. Because I think I'd like to. This time. Not like last time."

It took Ken a few moments to process all of that. No one had ever accused Daisuke of being eloquent when it came to his heart, after all. But the important part came clear. "You want to kiss me? You want me to kiss you?"

"Pretty sure that's what I said," Daisuke replied, and Ken tilted his head up enough to spy a very amused grin on his friend's face. For a moment he thought Daisuke would launch into a speech about how it didn't have to mean anything, maybe he just wanted to know the difference between kissing under the influence and kissing with mutual agreement, and Ken had to admit that the thought kind of intrigued him as well, perhaps more than it should.

Perhaps a _lot_ more than it should, because his eyes grazed the line of Daisuke's lips, and he remembered with absolute vividness how they'd felt underneath his own, and he wondered more than ever what they would feel like now, when they both had years of growth behind them and they weren't dictator and enemy anymore.

They were friends now. Friends could kiss friends and it would be all right, couldn't they? It didn't have to mean anything beyond...testing the waters?

Ken drew in a breath. He knew that he should say no. Every fiber of his being screamed to say yes, while his intellect told him to back off, this was such a bad idea, it would change things, and he didn't want them to change, did he? He didn't want to lose Daisuke as a friend if everything somehow collapsed on him. And it would, wouldn't it? It didn't happen every time, but it had happened before.

_I lost everything because of that stupid Spore. And none of that was anything I wanted in the first place._ Resolve burned unexpectedly bright, eliminating the doubts. At least most of them. He couldn't help but wonder and doubt a little about what might happen next. It was only natural. Only human.

But he would never know what could happen next if he didn't do it, could he? If _they_ didn't do it.

"If you're sure." The words fell almost shyly from him and perhaps he still couldn't have done it, and it might have fallen away to nothing.

Might have, but Daisuke was having none of that, and he leaned forward, resting one hand on Ken's shoulder, and set their lips together.

He kissed Ken.

Ken closed his eyes and kissed back.

He could not even begin to list the differences, halfway because there were so many of them and halfway because his mind closed down and he could barely remember his own name, let alone Daisuke's, and even less what had changed in those intervening years.

He tilted his head back, breathing through his nose, his heart pounding as if he'd just run the most intense race of his life. Daisuke's lips followed his own, not letting a breath of space exist between them for more than a few seconds. Again their lips pressed together and now Ken felt Daisuke's tongue touching the seam of his lips, questing curiously.

Without thinking about, because thinking didn't seem to do anything but get him into all kinds of trouble, he opened his mouth and let Daisuke inside.

* * *

><p>Daisuke had kissed a couple of people since that time with Ken all those years earlier. He'd traded a few with Hikari, but while that had been very good, the bar had been set high by his first one. He'd tried kissing a couple of guys, just to see if that was the difference, or maybe kissing because they wanted to and not thanks to some plants.<p>

It wasn't. None of the kisses were bad in any way, and after a while, he figured out that they were all good in their own way as well. But the time with Ken stuck in the back of his head, no matter how much he tried not to think about it. He wasn't nearly as successful as he would've liked to be, either.

Still, he'd managed to push it down enough to not just forgive Ken, but to hang out with him without bringing to mind that time and everything that had happened. So far as he could tell Ken either didn't remember it - it was hard to tell what he remembered and what he didn't about being the Kaiser sometimes - or he still didn't want to talk about it. Daisuke wasn't going to push him about it.

So finding himself here, in a place where he'd never thought he'd be again, much less with Ken, sent his mind down a road he'd never given that much thought to. Being immune to the fragrance made him more than aware that what he wanted was something he _really wanted_. Maybe it would get rid of those niggling questions on the edges of his mind.

Maybe it would help Ken, too. It wasn't a bad idea. At least he didn't think it was.

Though frankly the look on Ken's face when he'd brought it up made Daisuke wish he had a camera with him, and could take the picture without Ken getting mad at him.

Aside from that, he figured out one thing very fast: he liked kissing Ken. There was an aroma in his nostrils that could only be Ken, and he liked it. It wasn't like the flowers. This was somehow softer and more... more Ken. Daisuke wasn't the writer in the bunch; he didn't worry about how to describe things. It was just _Ken_. What else could he say about it?

He prodded at Ken's lips, recalling having done this when he'd kissed Taichi. Taichi was a really good kisser and he'd taught Daisuke a lot. So now Daisuke did what he could to put those lessons to use.

He kind of thought Taichi expected this sooner or later. He'd given Daisuke a few looks once in a while, usually whenever he and Ken had done something together. Which really meant that once they got out of here, he would probably end up telling Taichi about this.

Oh, that was going to be _fun_.

Then again, if he were going to do this, then he should probably have something to tell Taichi aside from 'we kissed and it was really, really awesome'. Even though it was.

Ken tasted good; Daisuke not only figured that out very quickly, but decided he needed to make absolutely certain of it, and so kept on licking at his teeth and tongue and lips. Ken's own tongue pushed back at him, not quite nervously, and with slowly growing confidence as they grew more used to doing this. Daisuke opened his mouth farther, wanting to feel Ken's tongue in there, and shivering all over as he did.

This was so much different and better than the first time had been. Daisuke gave himself over entirely to enjoying all of it, the feel of Ken's lips on his, the way he could hear Ken's stuttering, sharp breathing, his own efforts at drawing in air which somehow didn't seem to completely fill his lungs, but he didn't care one bit, not with how close he was to Ken. That made up for everything.

One hand rested against Ken's chest for a few seconds before he started to move his fingers underneath it, caught up in heat as he'd never been before, and wanting to do more than kiss. Though part of him knew he'd be satisfied doing that alone for the rest of eternity if that was what Ken would agree to.

Ken's hand closed around his wrist and Daisuke looked up into somewhat wide violet eyes.

"Ken?" Their heads now were just far enough apart so that they could speak, though he was certain Ken could feel his breath on his lips. He knew when Ken answered he could feel Ken's.

"Daisuke...you're... what..." Apparently all of Ken's brain cells weren't in full operating mode. That was fine with Daisuke. His weren't entirely functioning either.

He swallowed some, however, as more of them clicked back into the proper on position. "Ken?" Well, they weren't _all_ working right just yet. He would work through this.

"I think...moving fast?" It still wasn't a full sentence, but it got the message across at least. Daisuke hated to pull away from Ken. He was so warm and Daisuke liked that warmth. It made him feel even warmer inside, in a way he never could remember being properly with anyone else. It had happened with them, just not like this.

"Oh." Daisuke tried not to let any disappointment show. Ken was probably right. Shouldn't they do something else? Dinner and a movie? Wasn't that what people normally did?

On the other hand, they weren't going to get out of here until the power could be fixed and if Daisuke remembered the weather report, that might not be for another few hours, thanks to that storm. Which meant they would be stuck here in a place that would stir up every desire Ken had ever had and gently incline him to act on those desires.

And Daisuke wouldn't be affected by it at all. There were words for that kind of thing and they weren't ones that Daisuke wanted Ken thinking at all. So either they found a way to leave the area, which at least had the advantage of being relatively protected, or they found a way to deal with this.

Still, Ken didn't seem to be suffering from anything he couldn't control at the moment. A few drops of sweat decorated his forehead, but that was it, and Ken raised one hand to rub them off as he caught his breath.

"We should get out of here. I think it's affecting our judgment."

Daisuke frowned. "Are you sure?" He felt much as he had when he'd been here the first time, which meant he wasn't feeling any different from he usually did.

"I know it's affecting mine," Ken muttered, his eyes sliding away from Daisuke. He started to get up, but Daisuke wouldn't let him go, leaning in closer.

"Ken, I didn't ask to kiss you because of this place. I can't, remember?" He caught Ken's fingers in his, not trying to keep him, but wanting to feel their fingers touching. "I asked because I _wanted_ to kiss you."

Ken's eyes darted toward him for a moment, then away again. "Daisuke..." He didn't seem to know what else to say. Daisuke found words for him.

"If that's what you want, we can get out of here. We can find the Digimon and they can show us the way out if we evolve them." Before Ken could say yes or no to this, Daisuke kept on going. "And then when you know that your head is screwed on right, we can kiss some more."

He could almost see the lights going off in Ken's head again. Or maybe turning on. He couldn't be entirely sure, but the whole idea had clearly never occurred to Ken at all, that they could try this somewhere else and see what it was like then.

"You'd do that?" Ken's voice remained little more than a small whisper filled with wonder and disbelief.

Daisuke pressed Ken's hands in between his own, enjoying the feel of their slim strength. "Ken, there's not a whole lot I wouldn't do for you." He couldn't think of too much anyway. There probably were things, but they were likely things Ken wouldn't ask of him in the first place.

But what Daisuke knew he really wanted was to prove to Ken that he didn't just want to do everything with him because of the aroma here, and that he was willing to wait until Ken wasn't affected by it either. He didn't know everything they would do or might do, but he wanted them to do it because it was something they both wanted to do, not because of some funny flowers that existed because humans did way too much of this kind of thing in the first place, enough so that it created an entire area for it in the Digital World.

Though Daisuke truly tried not to think about that, even though he failed a lot at it. Hormones dictated otherwise and Daisuke listened to those a lot more than he really wanted to let on that he did.

Ken slowly pulled himself to his feet and this time Daisuke let him, also getting up. Truth to be told, if they were going to make out at all, he didn't want it to be on a couple of hard rocks. Especially not when there were so many soft meadows not all that far away. Not to mention that Ken's own apartment wasn't that far away, if they could ever get to it, and he knew for a fact Ken's couch was one of the most comfortable he'd ever sat on in his entire life.

* * *

><p>Ken had never wanted to see Wormmon this badly in his life. He had no idea of how long it would take the fragrance and what it caused to cease affecting his reactions, but he wanted it to be fast, and maybe a quick flight where the air was chillier would help. Anything so long as it cooled the heat in his blood.<p>

Maybe it would also help him get a grip on everything that had just happened. Daisuke kissed him. He could get his head around that. What he was having a few troubles coming to grips with was that both of them clearly enjoyed it as much as he had.

For that matter, the fact Daisuke wanted to go farther than that was more than a little surprising. The thought of how Daisuke's fingers felt against his skin, questing and curious, callused and strong, sent a very different kind of chill through him. The kind that made him remember that he wasn't entirely in his right mind in this place and if he wanted to stay Daisuke's friend - which he did, so very much - then it would be so much better if they found somewhere else to be.

Exactly where he didn't know yet but anywhere that didn't involve a place where his thinking was impaired would be great. Then he would know that whatever happened, happened because they both really did want it.

Daisuke did want him. Ken couldn't deny it. And stirring slowly in parts of himself he'd tried to pretend didn't exist for years was the knowledge that he wanted Daisuke. That he wanted him all this time and kept himself from admitting it because of what happened here.

Perhaps, he thought as he and Daisuke tromped in search of their partners, it was time to let that go as well. Daisuke didn't blame him. Daisuke didn't hate him. Daisuke was more than willing to see what they could end up doing together.

He wasn't at all surprised to find V-mon and Wormmon curled up together, tucked in the shade of the very same bush that he'd tried to use that time to shame Daisuke. Sometimes the world worked in ways so mysterious no one could understand it. Sometimes it was as if the world took a thorough pleasure in smacking someone - usually him - upside the face with a clear message. And right here and now, that message was 'you love Daisuke'.

Arguing about it with himself hadn't gotten him anywhere. So maybe admitting it and getting on with it would.

* * *

><p>Finding a place to rest outside of the valley wasn't as hard as either of them had feared. Nor was getting out of there, not once Stingmon could take a look around and see which way led out.<p>

A small fire crackled next to the two of them, holding back the light night's chill. Daisuke leaned with his arm around Ken, running his fingers through strands of rich blue hair. Their hearts still beat in tandem, Ken had long ago realized, and he enjoyed hearing Daisuke's going thump thump in time with his own.

"When do you want to..." Ken wasn't certain how to finish the sentence. At least he didn't have to. Daisuke knew what he was thinking about. Ken didn't doubt at all that Daisuke's thoughts flowed in the same direction.

"Now probably isn't a good time." Ken knew without having to look that Daisuke was looking over at where their partners now rested, as comfortable against one another as the two of them were themselves. He wasn't going to argue with that. As much as he cared about Wormmon, having a full out make out session with Daisuke while either Wormmon or V-mon were in the area didn't do much for him. It would almost be like having a brother watch him.

He really didn't need to think about what Osamu would've thought about all of this.

More than that, he didn't need to think about what _Jun_ would have to say about this. Now there was a thought fit to splash metaphorical cold water on everything. It wasn't one he intended to share with Daisuke.

"Right." Ken breathed a long breath. "So, um, when we get home?" They could send the Digimon to stay with one of the others, maybe, and then...

Daisuke moved closer and Ken lost the trail of his thoughts at how close he was. "You know, now that I think about it, I saw a little clearing in those woods over there." He jerked his head over to a copse not that far away. "I think there's one of those ... what did Taichi-san call them... you know, the trees where no one can see you when you're it?"

Ken nodded, remembering having come across those during his explorations of the Digital World. It would be a good place to have some private time. Their partners would be fine here. Hand in hand, the two of them headed there with quiet steps.

* * *

><p>A short while later, a low moan of deep pleasure floated by on the wind. Wormmon cracked one eye open, then nudged V-mon. The blue Digimon yawned and curled closer to him. "What?"<p>

"I win our bet."

**The End**


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